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whump-a-la-mode · 3 years

Note

Could you do a story where the villain tries to break into the hero’s house but finds them barely conscious (broken ribs maybe) and they decide to help them? Idk if you’ve done smtg similar, sorry

Ooh, this is a fun one! There’s more story here than real caretaking, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Thank you so much for the prompt!

CW//Strong language, implied violence against children, injuries

When that week had begun, Villain would have been lying if they had said that kidnapping a hero was on the very top of their to-do list. In fact, it was so low on their list of priorities that was little more than a contingency plan. A vague idea. There were far more useful things they could do than stooping to the level of their adversaries and taking captives.

That had been at the start of the week, however. When Villain’s life wasn’t a complete disaster. They’d started their Monday morning with a cup of coffee and a pile of plans to carry out.

None of them had included staking out in the bushes outside the home of a particular Hero. But, here they were, stalking through undergrowth, picking up burrs on their clothes all the way.

Now, those plans had been tossed in the nearest wastepaper bin. This was of a far greater importance.

The heroes were cruel. No villain in the city would dispute that point. There was no level to which they would hesitate to stoop, from kidnapping to bioweaponry to manipulation.

But a child? A child should have been off limits. A child was innocent, far too young to be involved in the waged conflicts surrounding them. It was why Villain had never wanted a Sidekick in the first place. When the kid approached them, though, they knew that refusal wasn’t an option. The poor thing was washed up, on the brink of falling into a far worse world. In desperate need of a wing to be taken under.

Sidekick was just a kid. Villain was mentoring them, training them, nothing more. They could hardly fight, much less win any conflict they found themself thrown into. They were far more of a civilian than they were any sort of threat.

And the heroes had taken them. Driven up alongside them and tossed them into the back of a van. A kid, Villain’s kid, now sat in a cell somewhere, in hero custody. A child turned into a bargaining chip.

The only problem with that? Villain had nothing to offer in return. The heroes knew that full well. That was why they’d taken the kid in the damn first place.

They wanted Villain. Sidekick’s release in exchange for their imprisonment.

It was a deal that was simply untenable. As much as the idea of their own captivity horrified them, it would bring along with it another consequence: Sidekick would have no one to go to.

They simply couldn’t go along with it. They needed their own bargaining chip, their own cash in the pile.

Hero was going to be that chip.

In a way, to them, it was revenge as much as it was strategy. Hero was the only one of the heroes that Villain had ever truly interacted with. They were young as well, only a new inductee into the ranks of the protectors of the city. That meant, too, that they were weak.

It had been easier than Villain had expected, to find the home address of one of the city’s heroes. But, so it turned out, just about information could be bought and sold from any number of unscrupulous street characters-- for the right price, of course.

And, here they were. With heavy, clomping steps, they approached the back of Hero’s home. Their uniform and mask covered nearly every inch of their expression, blending them into the shadows and grass they moved through.

A few hours prior, they’d scouted out the building, making note of a second-story window that never seemed to lock quite right. Of course, most of the time, this wouldn’t be an issue-- no criminal would be bold enough to hook a ladder all the way up there.

But Villain didn’t need a ladder.

With a hop, skip, and a jump, solid ground disappeared from beneath them. It wasn’t flight, per se, but diving deeper into the logistics of levitation bored most. What mattered was that, to Villain, gravity was no deterrent.

Now at the height of the window, they hooked their fingers under it. They cringed as the frame let out a terrible screeching noise, their heart lunging between their lungs. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

But, from within the bedroom, there was no reaction; aside from a low, exhausted groan. Was Hero asleep? It certainly sounded like it. They supposed that that was why they had decided to make their attack in the middle of the night.

Gritting their teeth, Villain pushed the window open the rest of the way, siddling their body through and collapsing upon the crumbling carpet below.

Another groan.

“Mom?”

Villain stiffened as they scrambled to first their knees, then their feet. The bedroom was standard, in most ways. A bed, a dresser, a closet with a single broken, dangling from a single nail.

And a hero. Hero laid upon the bed, covers tossed off of their body and to the floor. One of their arms was folded so as to cover their eyes, all while yet another groan escaped their body.

As the villain approached the edge of the footrest, they could not help but taste the choking sensation of a trap. Had their accomplice sold them out? Had Hero seen them during their scouting mission? There was no way they had slept through all this!

But, this wasn’t sleep. No. Sleeping people did not twitch painfully in their unconsciousness.

They dared take a step closer, examining their incapacitated target. Their shirt had been pulled up, nearly to their chest, as though they had been desperately trying to cool themself down. Or... Or to relieve the pain of an injury.

From their naval to their chest, and likely beyond, though it was covered by their shirt, their skin had turned a deep, flushed, blue color. The edges of the bruises, in certain places, had even begun to turn sickly green and purple colors.

Villain knew broken ribs when they saw them. They knew for a fact that they were not the one to have inflicted these wounds. Hell, they hadn’t faced the hero in battle in nearly a month!

So who had?

When they had entered the home, they had had no thoughts in their mind besides those of their child. The hostage video the heroes had sent them, in which Sidekick shivered in a lonely, cold cell.

Now- Now they had two people to worry about. Certainly the heroes had their own doctors, didn’t they? No doctor worth their salt would leave a patient in this condition, especially not alone!

“Hey.” Villain’s stomped their foot. “Get up, you deft ass. I’m trying to kidnap you.”

Hero’s arm lazily flopped onto the bed as their eyes fluttered open.

Every muscle in their body tensed, making the bruises on their exposed stomach twist and flex.

“What the absolute- Villain?” They shifted, as though they were about to sit up-- but they did not. Instead, they lay only groaning on the bed. “Get out of my house, you piece of shit! Get out! You shouldn’t be here in the first place!”

Villain knew that voice like a ringtone. That undertone of terror, masked by layers and layers of fury, like a canine’s medication hidden in peanut butter.

“You’re beat up halfway to hell.”

“And you’re going to be if you don’t leave my house!”

The villain raised a brow, dropping their hands to the side.

“Go for it. I’ll give you a free shot, even.”

Hero narrowed their eyes, twitching once more on the bed, but moving no more than that.

“I said, hit me, you damn do-gooder.”

“I’m not stooping to your level.” Hero defended hastily.

“It seems more to me.” Villain placed one threatening hand upon the bed-- not touching their foe, but close enough. “Like you’re a bit stuck. Like your abdomen is so fucked that you can’t so much as sit yourself up.”

“More like I’m not wasting my energy one someone as low as you.”

“Isn’t that your whole job?”

Hero gritted their teeth.

“What in the hell do you want?”

“Unimportant, at least for now.” A shark encircling its prey, Villain moved to the side of Hero’s bed, forcing them to turn their head at an awkward side angle in order to see their attacker. “I think the most important thing, right about now, is getting you to the nearest medic.”

“I don’t need an ambulance.”

“I didn’t say you did.”

And, like that, the Hero was hoisted up into their enemy’s arms. Their injuries minimized their thrashing, leaving them as a rather compliant captive.

“I have some medic friends who would just love to know what in the hell happened to you.” Villain turned, beginning to head out the door. Their vehicle was parked at only a few block’s distance. “They don’t treat heroes often, but, right about now, you don’t look like too much of a hero to me.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I was just getting there, wasn’t I? We’re getting my damn kid back.”

“We?”

“Did I stutter?”

#hero whumpee #villain caretaker #whump #whumpblr #whump community #whumpee #whumper #caretaker #hero villain whump #hero x villain #hero villain prompt #hero villain scenario

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intergalactic-padawan · 3 years

Text

inquisitor - Ezra Bridger

Requested: yes, by the beautiful @raganbridger! Sorry for the wait, it's finally here!

Warnings: angst, dark side!reader, confusion, mentions of bad injuries/blood, betrayal

A/N: You asked for le angst, so here it is! I've had this idea for a long while and this request was the motivation I needed to start. LOTS of alternative endings were written, this was mostly the reason it took so long.

Pronouns of reader: she/her

*ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE! I make mistakes just like everybody else 😉*

-"oh, good, you're awake"

You sit and inhale sharply, focusing back on the real world, startled at the strange voice.

Well, not so strange per se. You knew who was talking to you. What was strange was why he was talking to you.

Before you can adjust your vision to the unfamiliar environment, the memories from hours earlier instantly come flooding back.

Malachor. The place where jedi go to die.

An easy kill for you and your inquisitor colleagues.

That's what they had said on the ship, at least. You, on the other hand, knew better than to underestimate how slippery those jedi could be - especially if they fought side by side, like they always did.

You remember cornering the younger one during the fight. His skill was minimal compared to yours, which would give you an advantage against his master if he were to die first.

The boy and his friends go after the sith holocron. There had been a blinding light when it was placed at the altar.

And also, the jedi knight who was blinded by your former master, Maul.

Maul.

Not only had the cursed man left you for dead years before, he had come back from hiding to haunt you and join forces with your other enemies.

But you were an inquisitor. You wouldn't - you couldn't let him get the best of you, not this time.

You feel a light hand pressing your forehead and recoil in fear, reaching for your lightsaber, only to feel it was not there.

-"whoah, woah, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you" - it was the padawan you'd been fighting before - Ezra Bridger. He had placed you and his master inside a cave in a planet you were not familiar with when you'd escaped Malachor.

You'd escapd Malachor? But how?

You couldn't have, unless he'd carried you back to his ship.

-"hey, hey, it's alright."

-"what do you want, jedi?" - you wince in pain again.

-"a thank you would be nice, actually. I did just save your life"

-"a foolish mistake. One you will pay for with yours"

You reach out for your lightsaber, but can't feel it anywhere close. Scouring with the force for its presence, you quickly realize he must have hidden it outside the place.

-"Nope, absolutely not" - just as quickly, he slaps your outstreched hand - "I may be an idiot, but i'm not stupid. Your lightsaber's not here, it's caused enough damage already."

You rub the hand he pushed away, more shocked at his actions than anything. How DARE he?

-"Then what do you want from me, if not revenge? Why treat my wounds if not to finish the battle we started?"

-"Listen, I'm not sure if it's the adrnaline or something, but you're in no condition to fight anyone any time soon"

-"You underestimete me, Jedi. Even in these conditions you would be no match for me."

-"Like I wasn't a match for you at the sith temple?"

At the mention of the event, images of the fight start to come back.

Back at the sanctuary, you drew him away from the fight, knowing his strengh lied with his allies. Only, you hadn't imagined your former master to join his side - not until you'd seen the holocron in Ezra's hands, at least. You'd warned him: "he will use it and throw you away. Like he did to me". Needless to say, he didn't listen.

Your vision starts to lose focus at the intensity of your anger and you groan in pain, not able to sit anymore. Driven by instinct, the padawan holds your side so you won't fall completely, pressing your abdomen and making you hiss in pain.

-"ah, looks like I was right. You're conscious, but not healed" - you feel yourself be adjusted back on the ground, too weak to fight him.

-"where are we? Why did you save my life?"

He hesitates, eyes studying you, like you might attack him any second and he still knew it.

-"not so sure" - he finally answers - "maybe because now you owe me one?"

-"Did you hit your head or something?" You scoff - "Make no mistake, I WILL kill you when the opportunity rises!"

-"And that is why your lightsaber privileges have been revoked for now."

You lock eyes, studying him like he had you. It made no sense- you'd followed his group to the sith temple, tried to kill him several times, called for the man who had murdered his strongest ally, Ahsoak Tano. Why was he helping you?

With a shiver, you realize he's still holding your side, not as firmly as before but still providing support for your back. Inhaling sharply, you graze his hand and he lets go instantly, realizing how close the two of you had gotten.

Standing up just as quickly, he brushes a strand of unruly hair our of his forehead, while you you clean your throat, diverting your attention to the exit of the cave. The rain pours on the large trees outside, but you can't make out much except for the fact that you're in a forest planet (maybe a moon?) and his ship is in less than ideal conditions to get out of it.

-"here" - Ezra kneels down with two bacta patches and a piece of fabric from a medical kit -"i felt your back was pretty sore, but didn't want to take off your shirt while you were out. Your cuts need cleaning."

You hesitantly take the items, using the rocks behind you as support to lean your body on. He stands up, hands on hips, and chuckles when you sniff the gel, suspicious.

With the small bit of privacy he gives you by turning around to check on his master, you fumble with your shirt, deciding to take it off in order to see better.

-"Need some help over there?" - he asks, hearing you grunt in frustration at not being able to reach some spots

-"Not from you, thank you very much"

-"Oh, so she CAN say thank you! That's a welcome change"

You throw the rag at his direction, irritated out of your mind. Who does he think he is??

He must sense the harmless ball of soaked fabric coming his way, turning around to catch it mid-air. Now that he's turned, you see a glimpse of amusement in his eyes at your rage, giving you the answer you needed as to why he went through the trouble of saving you; it was merely to see you suffer and laugh at your expense, apparently.

His expression quickly changed when he saw your bruised torso, however.

- "who did this to you?" - he whispers, and you look down at you look down at your sore ~ well, everything~, covered only by a wrap in the bust area.

-"As you said, jedi. I may be better than you, but you still gave me a decent challenge"

"No. I didn't even hit you there." - his serious reaction to your injuries had caught you off guard, you had to admit. - "those are old and deep, you shouldn't even be able to walk!"

-"I'm not, remember?" - you motion at your debilitated situation, unable to even sit down or cross your legs properly -"But i will be, soon. And then it's over for you"

-"you know what? I think if you wanted to, you would have killed me by now." - he shoots back and you're impressed at his audacity once again.

But he had a point. Why hadn't you attacked him yet?

Sure, you had no lightsaber or phisical conditions to stand, but your force abilities were still as strong as ever. You were vulnerable, but so was he, and you weren't kidding when you said you could deal with him even at your worse.

-"you know what? " - you cross your arms. He was playing with fire now - "maybe I might"

-"and why haven't you?"

-"because I wouldn't enjoy it as much." - you snap back venomously - "I want to see you suffer before I bring you to Lord Vader"

His expression darkens at the mention of Ahsoka's murderer. His whole body stiffens as he balls his wrists and clearly struggles to control his anger at the recent loss. For a moment, you fear you've gone too far, but reprimand yourself for worrying about his feelings over yours. You're not supposed to be anything more than indifferent to the weak and ruthless to those who dare oppose you.

-"Yeah, no matter what you do, you're still imperial scum"

You're not prepared for those words to affect you so much. You're supposed to have a response, but nothing coherent seems to come out of your mouth, so you settle for an an uncomfortable silence.

It doesn't last for long, however, as his comlink goes off. It's his droid, asking - no, demanding - that he go help him with repairs on the ship. He hesitates, looking at you and contemplating how bad it would be to leave you unnatended in the company of his defenseless master.

-"Dont worry."- You reassure him. -"I won't make his situation worse. Maul is the worse you can get, and I refuse to step that low"

You can see he doesnt like it, but leaves for a few moments before returning with what must be the droid that talked to him before. It was a C1 series unit with an orange top and a bratty atitude, you could tell that much by just seeing him interact with the jedi.

-"Chopper will stay here, just in case"

-"I understand. It's fine."

-"I wasn't asking if you were fine with it. Behave" - you can't be sure if his command is directed at you or the droid, but you weren't about to ask.

The coldness he now had to his voice was understandable - you had worked to get him to that emotional state - ,but you felt hurt at the change. The droid didn't do much to help you think clearly about what just happened, and by the look of it, your frustration would only grow bigger in the many hours it would still take to repair the ship to a normal flying condition.

'He thinks i'm imperial scum, huh?' - you think as you scour a pile of your belongings with the force, not too far away inside the cave.

Bad news, your lightsaber really wasn't there.

Good news, your wrist comm was.

'i'll show him imperial scum'

With a plan forming in mind, all you had to do now was be patient and wait for the right time. There's no exchange of words between the two of you when he gets back, which makes time fly by before he's betrayed by exaution and finally gives in to sleep. You take care of the droid easily after that.

Activating the tracking beacon, you start to leave the cave, but not before noticing the boy's lightsaber beside him. It was a bold move, he could easily wake up if you took it, but you knew that if he woke up to see you gone you'd need it to compensate for your injuries.

You were still on opposing sides, after all.

You knew there had to be an imperial ship near the planet, and they would pick up your signal in an instant when you called. Wallking to a less dense area of the forest, away from the crash site, you're proven right when, in a matter of minutes, a shuttle tripulated by four troopers and a senior lieutenant meet you on the ground.

-"and what of the jedi?" - the higher ranking woman asks when you finish your brief description of the events that led you there.

Well, not all events. You'd left out the part where Bridger had helped you recover.

You could just tell them to take the two jedi for excecution. You were supposed to do it, in fact.

-"it's just me. And the younger one's lightsaber" - you finally answer, not exactly knowing why you'd deliberately just saved them.

She nods curtly and escorts you back to the ship without a second glance. It was a good story so far, but you would have to work on it if your superiors were to believe it.

-"Wait- " - you start, second-guessing your motives for not giving away their location. One of the troopers turns to you expectantly.

-"yes, sir?"

You hesitate for a moment, ready to do what you'd beeen taught to do your whle life. Kill the jedi.

Kill the jedi.

A tingling crept up your sides, where the padawan had touched earlier to give you support. You try to betray the gut feeling pressing you to do your duty as an inquisitor, but it's stronger than you. Something is forcing your better judgement to be leaving your natural enemies alive.

-"nothing." - the tingle goes away as soon as it had come, leaving an unusual feeling of relief. - "Thought i'd sensed something. Let's leave"

'Perhaps it's for the best'. - you think as the shuttle's door closes. After all, you did owe him one for saving your life - whatever his reason was for doing so.

That was what you told yourself as you boarded the ship, at least. Now, the next time you saw him, there would be nothing to stop you from finishing him and his friends for good.

Hope you like it? I gave him a 'hands on hips' moment in honour of your videos for a more personalized touch hahahaha

#ezra bridger fic #ezra bridger #ezra bridger imagine #ezra bridger x reader #ezra bridger x you #ezra bridger x y/n #inquisitor!reader

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beneathashadytree · 4 years

Text

VICTOR LI: A-Z FLUFF HEADCANONS (PART 1)

Warnings : slightly suggestive in some parts (nothing descriptive), this is not proofread, reader is gender neutral!

Genre : you WILL get tooth decay from this much fluff, a bit of hurt/comfort if you look closely

Word count : 7.2K words

Additional notes : This is the A-Z fluff headcanons thingie, but since Tumblr has a paragraph limit (grrr), I was forced to split it into two parts. This is part one, from letters A to M.

Click here to read part 2

Requests : Are open! Check the rules over here.

Want to support me financially? Here’s my CashApp!

Masterlist

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

• Victor is, naturally, a very busy man. When one pile of paperwork is all signed and set to be delivered, it's Goldman who's frantically escorting him to the latest meeting with the board members. Once that nightmare's over, there's barely enough time to buy a plane ticket for that one business meeting he'd scoffed at but knew was necessary to attend, before he has to personally oversee his employees' weekly performance as his perfectionism demands him to do.

• That being said, Victor is far from being an all-work-no-play lover. In fact, the one thing he absolutely adores more than anything is unwinding with his s/o doing whatever comes to mind.

• For him, his go-to activity for date night is often a classy outing at only the best restaurants in town (and by best, he means that he doesn't care about the bill as long as the food is of exquisite taste and his love has a beautiful smile on their face), seeing as he was brought up into the elite upper class of society.

• That doesn't mean that that's all he ever thinks of! It's just what he was brought up to enjoy; refined eating.

• However, knowing his darling all-too-well by now, he would much rather prefer to take them with him to Souvenir and spend the day split between sharing kitchen chores (theirs being minimal, seeing as their cooking skills were... questionable) and dining together on the table looking out onto the lush back garden where the view lasted year-long.

• And who knows, maybe he'd let his love take a few tentative sips from his wine glass, a small smirk forming on his face at the way they adorably latch onto him the very moment their cheeks blush from the mild intoxication.

• The producer who'd snagged his heart, however, was keen on trying new, sometimes-slightly-embarrassing things with him, and Victor---no matter how hard he tries to seem stand-offish or pretend that he's surely not on board with their outlandish ideas---somehow always gives in to their pleas and starry eyes to whom he can never say no---what; and break his love's heart?!

• Whether it's an amusement park that mostly targets a 7 year-old audience, a cat café whom he absolutely refuses to admit he adored, a circus that he frankly had no interest in seeing, an aquarium that he funds and really never invested much thought into aside from financially, he just lets them drag him around. He's not being forced per se; he 100% wants to give in to their every request... after all, he's a dedicated man in love who'd give his s/o the entire world if that's what they so desired (not that he didn't once try to buy an entire country for them---vICTOR NO)

• But if all they want is a calm evening at home, Victor will make sure that his surround-sound system plays only the most calming pieces of Tchaikovsky and Schübert as they sigh happily in the massive bathtub (which could pass as an indoor pool with how big it was, really), pastel-colored bubbles popping with every gentle caress and whispered endearment.

• Drinks in hand sloshing as they converse happily, delight shining on both their faces, they relish the luxury of bath-time together overlooking the magnificent view out of the bathroom window. At times like these, Victor forgets that he's Loveland's City's busiest, most work-swamped man---and for a few moments, he no longer worries about the unknown future he has no control over, thoughts of his dummy's tranquil smile mulling over in his head.

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

• Victor is a man who deeply appreciates all forms of beauty---after all, he did grow up within the harsh criticisms of those with fortune, fame, and temptation. This upbringing demanded him having a refined, hard-to-please taste in every aspect of life.

• However, when it comes to love, Victor only knows complete and utter devotion; to hell with all the standards that this wretched society has set! All that matters is that that person causes his heart to thump like mad in his chest; his palms shaking yet his resolve absolutely sure and steady; his smile subtle but always armed at the ready with how endearing they simply are.

• That doesn't mean that he doesn't find his love the most beautiful person in any room---no; the most beautiful person of all! In his eyes, all things pale in comparison to them: the waning moon ahead not so bright compared to their eager eyes, the night-time lake by his mansion not so shimmering compared to their gentle smile, the Egyptian silk sheets on the bed not so soft compared to their luscious skin.

• And if their perfection was only limited to the outside shell, perhaps he wouldn't have been so foolishly in love, but as a matter of fact, the young producer's internal beauty glowed unlike any diamond he'd purchased previously for charity, or even for them. And that alone was enough to captivate him and paint him as a fool head-over-heels.

• No other person was as selfless, no other person was as giving and generous, no other person was as compassionate and understanding, no other person was as kind and innocent as they were... if personality were subjective, they'd win first prize for always being the best. And it was no surprise that Victor crowned them as royalty in his heart; truly befitting a king like himself.

• If he had to choose, though, nothing beat the plush feel of their lips, whether deftly pressing against his skin or caught in his in an almost-bruising kiss. Those lips always spoke words that lifted his heart---be it words of love that warmed his insides, or silly words that sent his stomach into a butterfly-filled frenzy. His idiot sure knew how to capture a normally-stoic man's heart.

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

• Victor is a very rational man, who firmly believes in logic and takes a methodical approach when dealing with any issues. It shows in the way he handles his own problems, preferring to take a step back and have an overview of the greater picture. While he might have mounds of paperwork and schedules to stick to, when things start feeling all-too-much, he knows that the bird's eye view of Loveland City would embrace him with open arms---both soothing and beautiful. Once he's cleared his mind, he can for sure tackle any problems head-on.

• While he does encourage his love to do the same, he's well aware that not everyone has the same relaxation methods, nor does everyone find pleasure in the same experiences. He knows them just like the back of his hand; he knows exactly what to do when they're feeling a little down in the dumps.

• LFG's CEO is so used to wearing a mask on his face and erasing any emotions from being visible on his handsome countenance, and that's why softening up is exactly what his beloved needs.

• Releasing any tension and creases from his face, a welcoming tenderness etched on his face; that's all they need to see before burrowing their face into his sturdy chest and curling up to soak in his warmth and addictive cologne. Something about that smell and buzzing electricity was so... Victor.

• And when his hold on their thighs tightens, pulling them impossibly close as his lips alternate between leaving sweet pecks on their pouty ones and whispering sweet nothings and words of encouragement and deeply-engraved faith, they know that in him they find an incredible boss, lover, believer, and motivator.

• Splurging happens often on these occasions, as uncharacteristic as it is of him. He is a frugal man, but when it comes to their happiness, he's bound to max out his credit card frantically, trying his best to shower them in gifts.

• An outfit they'd been not-so-secretly eyeing? It's on their bed. A shiba inu plushie they'd reluctantly let go of in the toy store? It's cradled in their arms now. A diamond-and-white-gold earring that they probably couldn't believe was real? You can now spot it dangling from their ears. You name it, Victor's bought it and on his way to personally wrapping it up and gifting it.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

• Let's be real here: unless it was headed somewhere serious, Victor wouldn't engage in a relationship in the first place. He's just not one for idle chats and pointless pursuits; he's a man that's never once distracted himself from the goals he'd set for himself, and that's precisely why he's the city's most successful man at the young age of 28.

• He's only ever had eyes for his dummy, ever since that fateful incident in the middle of the street when he was just a kid and first found out what love looked like---and it looked like this little fool whose tears vanished the instant he'd whipped out his secret weapon of cooking.

• Since then, thoughts of them circulated his mind for every minute of every day, and to find out that they're the very same person he bickered with on the daily was stuff dreams were made of! He'd vowed to never let them go ever again; they were a treasure he'd stumbled upon twice so far and wouldn't want to ever loosen his grip on.

• Now that that's clear, he's an extremely romantic guy; red-roses-on-date-night, hand-resting-on-your-back, hold-your-umbrella, open-doors-for-you, clasp-your-hand-while-eating type of cliché gentleman. His mother who'd instilled so much love into him brought him up like that, and he wouldn't give that up for the world---especially when he finds himself having a genuine smile on his face whenever he does that for his dummy.

• For someone who has such an idealistic yet personal image of love, he's one who carefully plans out every major step of the relationship beforehand, because he knows for sure that these are steps he'll definitely take in due time.

• His EVOL ironically of pivotal importance, he is not one to rush, and simultaneously not one to take too long. He paces everything at a rate that shows his lover that he values their comfort, but also shows how serious his intentions are with them.

• He'd be lying if he said that he hadn't attempted to visit the future multiple times in hopes of knowing what's in store for them. After all, he wants nothing more than that home-y vision in his mind.

• A warm and loving atmosphere in their house, caramelized scents wafting through the corridors, distinct laughter of two delighted kids who'd received all the love there is from their parents, mixed with the delicate meows of their kitten litter, paws padding along the rooms leading up to the couple who'd been cuddling by the fireplace, hands entwined as their wedding rings glistened in the glow from the hearth.

• Would his empire still stand? Absolutely. Will his producer monopolize TV stations world-wide? Without a single doubt yes. Their long-term plans ensured wealth and prosperity for their flourishing family. And Victor wants nothing more than to set these plans into stone as soon as possible.

• He'd love them till they're old and grey, barely able to move but more than able to love. He might not be the most openly affectionate person, but his adoration for them would transcend time and space.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

• For Victor, it's almost impossible not to be the dominant one, and it's partially due to the circumstances at which they'd met the second time around. Being their boss demanded a formality between them at the start of their relationship, and frankly the age difference--though barely any at all--meant that Victor still had to be respected regardless of position.

• His lover's naïveté awakened this naturally nurturing instinct inside of him; his desire to protect them as much as he could without suffocating them or pushing them away. It wasn't that he had to; he wanted to guide them to their success, gently nudging them towards the right path; he enjoyed doting over them and fussing over how much they'd eaten and if they'd drunk at all; he relished in the feeling of their agitated voice washing over him, ranting to him.

• There he was, dashingly clad in his pressed suit and wine-red tie, imposing in every single way, a gentle hand curled around his s/o's waist, both slightly possessive and proud of them. How could anyone not think of him as dominant?

• But when it comes to things he could do to please his lover, he certainly mellows out and becomes the softie everyone knows he is with them. After all, he lets them drag them all the way to the Taoist temple, allows them to place cat ear headbands on top of his somewhat unruly silky hair, and doesn't deny them when they place haphazard kisses on his neck (that's as far as they could reach), accidentally getting lipstick smudged on his pristine white collar.

• While he does often put his foot down (sometimes due to his immense worry for them and sometimes because of him genuinely fearing something would negatively impact his work), his assertiveness and dominance don't cancel out the fact that he's a brilliant lover that is capable of being passive to ensure their happiness.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

• Again, courtesy to his impeccable upbringing, Victor isn't the type of person to go looking for trouble or pick fights. He prefers working out problems with logic, and avoids altercations at all costs. He's a very mild, emotionally stable man, and intends to remain that way.

• And while he despises useless arguments and rising tempers, he isn't blind to the fact that any couple in the world is bound to have at the very least a few fights to their name. While it does unsettle him since he enjoys peace and tranquility, he's never once let the idea infect his brain that he should give up on them.

• During fights, he wouldn't have any qualms trying to keep his volume in check. However, probably because of his line of work, his words themselves have become sharp weapons. And often, he reflexively wields these blades against his beloved.

• Quick and witty, his responses when provoked are more than likely to be hurtful and sharp, though short. Oftentimes it seems as though he's got no regard for what stumbles out of his mouth, and other times it seems entirely intentional. However, it is neither, seeing as he means to respond fast but never watches the after-effect.

• Does he regret it? By God, does he. Guilt consumes him and nearly devours him when he sees tear-tracks on their face as they throw back hurtful words, or even worse, sit back with an empty look on their face.

• But you see, for Victor, a man with so much dignity, he's never found apologizing easy. It takes him at least a couple of hours to clear his head, opting to be mature and being the first to apologize after every lovers' spat (they're not often too either; he's a peaceful man).

• If it's his sweetheart's who's upset him, he's bound to take a couple of days to forgive completely. While he is putty in their hands, his pride and ego do get wounded. He's not immune to the aftermath of a fight, and grows quiet for a bit. Once they do apologize though, he's instantly back to the fussy and gentle-hearted Victor we all know and adore.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

• Unsurprisingly, Victor's main love languages are Quality Time and Acts of Service. He's an "actions speak louder than words" type of man, and makes sure his s/o feels loved with his every action.

• That would explain why, without a single doubt, Victor would be the most understanding and grateful lover there is. He's more than aware of the pressure that's on their shoulders (some of that pressure even being caused by him), and he knows how to detect the smallest gesture and word that express affection.

• He picks up on them and values them greatly, making sure to voice his gratitude with a simple but soft, "Thank you," murmured against ther skin, or with a personal full-body massage whenever he sees them rolling their shoulders in pain.

• He ensures that every romantic gesture is returned tenfold; it's only natural to do that when you've got someone you adore and wish to thank them and convey your own emotions as best as you can.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

• As a rather brisk and blunt man, Victor dislikes having to say anything that's less than the truth. He simply doesn't like dishonesty, because he believes that if he's to be vulnerable in front of one person, then he should bare his mind completely naked for them to see.

• However, sometimes Victor hides things from his lover; things they know would infect their mind like a parasyte and render them helpless and hopeless. He loathes having to put them through pain, he truly hates nothing more than having their pretty little head needlessly worry about him and the unforseen future.

• He wants to be their protecter; the person who can carry all their burdens. And how would he do that if he's weighing them down with his own troubles?!

• That's not to say that he'd be an elusive man who evades questioning and whatnot; he certainly wouldn't tell outright lies to his beloved who trusts him wholeheartedly. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't hide certain pieces of information from them, preferring to battle things on his own.

• If they do ask, he'll probably evade the question until it's been solved. Only then can he tell his sweetheart; he avoids having them worry, and at the same time their faith in his capabilities increases.

• Evol and pre-determined futures aside, he's brutally honest. There won't be a single detail his lover won't know about him. As such a pristine and goal-oriented man, he doesn't hold any lovers to his name, as he's more than once told his producer. But if there were ever any potential suitors or women who'd attempted to get with him, he's certainly telling his s/o before any problems might arise.

• His guilty pleasures, while he might not come outright and admit to them, he will show them in the subtlest of ways. After all, he's a man who prefers showing over telling.

• So is Victor an incredibly honest lover? Yes. But does he often hide the truth to protect the producer he holds so dear to his heart? Also yes. It's always an internal battle with him, and it's always the rational side that wins, in spite of the guilt gnawing at his insides.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

• Oh boy, did they! No one would ever even recognize Victor Li now if it weren't for his stormy expression and solid poker face during board meetings.

• However, the small, peaceful smile that instantly makes him even more ridiculously handsome than he already was, the impossibly tender look in his eyes, the loving lilt in his voice even as he teases... all of this just because his lover came into the room?! No way!

• He's mellowed out, that's for sure. Ever the formidable boss, that won't change for the sake of his company's future. However, as a person, while his morals and resolves usually remain the same, his entire personality has been softened to a degree he'd never imagined he'd reach.

• He's kinder, gentler, more encouraging, more understanding. While he still vehemently refuses to ever coddle his producer, that doesn't mean that he won't be the absolute best they've ever had, as well as the most loveable safe-zone.

• They'd also helped him come to terms with his mother's death, without ever making it seem like it wasn't much of a big deal. And that feeling of acceptance was rather unfamiliar to Victor, and warmed his heart like no other.

• So it's no wonder, really, that he lets them take him to places he'd never dreamt of going to before; that he enjoys trying out new things and experiences he'd previously thought were too "childish" or "for dummies." He'd gladly be a fool for them.

• On the other hand, he can see the way he's affected his s/o; anyone can, for that matter. His firm encouragement and constant guidance have hardened them and given them a protective shell so to speak, allowing them to battle onwards to achieve their goals.

• When things get too tough to bear, Victor's comforting presence is all they need to feel the warmth seep back into their bones. He's a miracle himself, ironically. And they couldn't be more grateful to see the effect he has on them.

• They can now shoulder on through problems with a calm-head and a steely resolve. They know what it's like to be a good boss and simultaneously a kind friend. They know what it means to see horrors and have someone at home to give you love and a listening ear. They can now win over anyone with their smooth-as-butter words that mix in with the formality demanded.

• They've truly come a long way from the haphazard scattered plans they'd set at the very start of Miracle Finder. And while it does owe to their own strength, Victor does get a great deal of credit for that. Incredible that they get the chance to love him just as hard as he loves them.

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

• For a sentimental man like himself, he takes emotions very seriously and never underestimates their power and effect. His love for a little glutton urged him to search for them for years on end, and then take care of them with a vow to never stop until they're both old and grey.

• Jealousy is no exception. He knows what that feeling is; that rage that grows at sight of that police officer waiting for them for hours outside of work on his motorcycle, that envy when the blonde superstar invites them out to eat at HIS own restaurant of all places, that disgruntlement he feels whenever their shady neighbour accompanies them to the orphanage with a questionable look in his eyes, and the contemporary disgust etched on his face whenever that reckless rebel drags them to one of his concerts that left them smelling of cigarettes and cheap liquor.

• But deep inside, he knows that there's really no reason for him to feel that way. Didn't they just make love the night before, words of adoration thick in the air? Didn't he just cook them breakfast with them tucked sleepily under his arm? Didn't they just write him love letters stained with their perfume and stacked them on his desk with an innocent smile? Didn't they just earnestly wish on their birthday that they spend every living moment in his arms?

• And wasn't Victor Loveland City's most eligible bachelor? Wasn't his every-day mission to prove to them that he loves them with all that he has? Wasn't he a keen and observant lover who never left one detail amiss? Didn't he inscribe their name on a ridiculously expensive ring for that very same purpose?

• Such things he knows very well and is 100% sure of. They're what he tries his best to think of and remind himself that he really, really has no reason to feel that growing jealousy when they surprise Goldman with a home-made birthday cake with wonky letters in icing.

• Alas, that does nothing to quench his thirst to prove himself as the best. After all, Victor Li doesn't know losing; he's always on top of the game. And love is no exception to that.

• So there's always an icy glare directed towards whomever had dared to overstep their boundaries, as an imposing hand lies at the small of his lover's back, almost challenging everyone in the room to protest or go up against him. And who would, considering the sheer power in his stance, the inferno inside of him apparent from his stony facial expressions?

• He's not one to lash out or admit defeat, though. It's up to them to pick up on his change in attitude, and it's expected of them to soothe his jealousy with enough PDA to be affectionate yet still classy. And just like a proud feline, Victor preens at the attention he receives from his one and only. Pampering him always does the trick!

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

• Is the sky blue? Is the grass green? Is Victor Li a good kisser?

• Well, of course he is! He wouldn't DARE give his lover a kiss that's even a hair away from perfection. It's how he does things; immaculately and full of intent.

• His kisses are all-encompassing, and he makes sure that he's all his lover can sense. The smell of his cologne drenching their shirt, the firm but tender grip of his fingers at the pulse on their neck, his soft and warm lips plush against theirs, the strength of his tongue stroking against theirs as they swallow his breathy groans... he makes sure they don't miss a single sense that he's taken over.

• That's all in the comfort of their dimly-lit bedroom, though. When they're out and about in the city, or at a gala that they simply had to attend with their booming influence, Victor prefers to leave gentle, sweet pecks on his lover's lips that leave their eyes lidded with a mix of affection and happiness. It's that glow that has him barely holding himself back from ravishing them. And ravish them he does, whenever given the opportunity and privacy.

• His lips are a tempting mix of soft and warm, consuming them entirely, and leaving the taste of caramel and champagne lingering on their tongue and engraved in their heart. It's so uniquely him.

• For someone who's so work-smart, the producer was awfully daft sometimes, especially when it comes to understanding other people's intentions. And Victor's were sadly ignored (or so it seemed---actually, they just couldn't really bring themselves to believe that this incredibly powerful and sought-after man might be harboring romantic feelings towards them).

• It was on their birthday, when he'd taken them out for a night-time stroll in the Parisian streets (as if that's a normal thing to do; but perhaps for Victor Li it is quite casual). Standing in a quiet street, huddled close together as the lines between friendship, love, and work blurred over in the winter chill, his hands had sought purchase in theirs, mumbling a fond, "Dummy," under his breath at their sheer oblivion.

• Their prominent blush egged him on and gave him the green sign he needed, and he could only comply by pulling them closer to him, until their tweed coat entwined with his raincoat, and his plaid scarf tangled them together.

• Their gentle laughter in the air, mixed with their distinctly sweet perfume had Victor's mind going at a mile a minute, and he couldn't function properly with the way they were looking up at him with their shiny eyes and rosy cheeks.

• So it was just like that, shielded in each other's arms under an awning as the rain started to pour all around them and form puddles on the uneven sidewalk, that he realized just how badly he wanted to kiss them.

• And kiss them he did, with a tentative glance at them to gauge their reaction, before closing the distance that was barely there in the first place, moulding their warm lips against each other, hands still clasped together.

• Eyes lidded, not quite shut just to savor their blissful expression, red spilling onto their entire complexion, Victor's heart was thrumming in his chest at the soft contact between them, his mouth half-open mid-kiss in sheer happiness. And if the sweet hums erupting from their throat were anything to go by, then they loved this as much as he did.

• It didn't last long, perhaps a few seconds more than a light peck, but to Victor who'd been completely enamored by them as of recently, he might as well have stopped time (which he might have or might have not done...)

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

• A man of grandiose such as himself would never settle for something that they might forget, and yet for someone who enjoys meaningful acts rather than grand shows of affection, it's an internal battle for Victor to confess the more than copious amount of love in his heart reserved for the producer alone.

• Should he pull out at all stops and take them on a spontaneous trip to the Maldives and confess at the oceanside restaurant with their hands entwined? Should he buy a million vibrant red roses to swamp their address until they literally cannot walk around their apartment, sent with a note of confession? Should he buy them a drop-dead gorgeous Tiffany & Co. set of earrings that would cost more than their yearly salary, the box engraved with those three words? Decisions, decisions...

• In the end, after many days of thinking, he settled on finding a middle ground; aiming for impressing them while also touching them with how meaningful it is. He doesn't want to overwhelm them, nor does he want to ever make them feel like this wasn't something huge for him.

• And so he takes them out to a restaurant that isn't the fanciest but he knows has an absolutely magnificent view overlooking the river, reserving the secluded seats beside the window where they could awe at the view of all the places they'd been to---together as a couple, as friends, and as co-workers.

• Reminiscing like that, they get a little lost in their memories, thinking back to all the times Victor had stuck by their side with a firm hand and an encouraging voice to accompany it. They only snapped out of it when they felt Victor's hand fall on theirs, his thumb brushing the back of their hand to bring them back to earth.

• Thoughts of him only filled their mind---and how could they not, with the way he was looking at them as if they held his entire world in their hands, and---wait, what was he pulling out of his suit?

• Eyes wide as saucers, they could only watch as the reflection of the candlelight flickered in his warm eyes while he presented them with a small box engraved with letters they could barely discern with how delicately they were carved: love transcends time.

• Shaking hands open the lid, a soft gasp escaping their lips as they see the absolutely gorgeous tennis bracelet nestled inside. It must've cost a fortune, but it was undoubtedly classy with how simple and yet extravagant it was. Something so Victor indeed.

• And when they managed to tear their eyes away from it and look back up at him, his earnest expression was enough to shake their entire being. Never before had he looked so vulnerable; so openly humbled; so naked with all his emotions. And the producer's cheeks burned, knowing full well that the intensity behind his gaze must've been intended for their eyes only.

• "I love you. In all my life, there's only ever been you, and fate's given me a chance to finally grasp what I'd been trying to hold onto for years. It's always been you. And that's why I say it with full confidence again: I love you."

• They're now choking on their own tears, welling up in their eyes at his softly-spoken words, his rich baritone warming them like never before. They'd never quite understood how heavy the word 'love' was, but with the way the syllable rolled off his tongue, they think they now have a fair idea of how much it meant and symbolized to one's heart.

• The single red rose he'd set earlier on the table was now gently picked up, presented with a half-smile, awaiting their reaction as they struggled to collect themselves once again. Who could, after such a confession of love?!

• They whisper that they love him. Over and over again. A plethora of times until they're a mess, giddiness enveloping them as they just can't wrap their head around the fact that the man they'd been so foolishly enamored by had been just as smitten the entire time. Funny how fate sometimes pulls strings in their favor.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

• Victor's life-long dream has always been to find that little glutton who'd saved his life once again, and live with them in a castle on top of a mountain with a crown on top of their head.

• While that didn't exactly happen as planned, it did come close to what they'd finally achieved together. As two of Loveland City's most influential public figures and business-people, they'd cultivated their own respective empires and settled down in their classy mansion downtown that never lacked neither warmth nor the smell of fresh cooking. The cat ears would have to do as a crown.

• In that manner, all he'd ever hoped for had come true so far, and it was time to take a few steps forward to ensure his dream's completion---a man can dream, after all, can he not?

• The first step towards achieving that perfect life he'd long yearned for was to tie the knot with his beloved and make sure that they carry the same last name as himself; the last name he prides himself having. The last name he always wishes they'd be associated with, as his partner for life.

• Nothing makes him rest easier at night than the thought that one day, once all of this is over and everything is stable, he'll not only have them in his arms every night, but even his wandering fingers would brush against the wedding band on their hand that glints even in the dark.

• The idea alone sends his heart racing and his throat burning with unshed tears that he struggles to hold back---out of sheer happiness, mind you.

• When he does deem the timing as perfect; when he believes that his s/o is on exactly the same page as himself and looks at him with a similar lovesick gaze, that's when Victor actively begins to proceed with his plan.

• He wants his actions to be simple and yet speak louder than his calm voice ever will, so it's only natural that he plans the proposal many months in advance to make sure that his question is one that will receive a guaranteed 'Yes' as a reply.

• For someone who values family so much and considers it as the reason why his strength was infinite at dire times, he'll definitely refer to his father. While they don't often bring up his mother because of the wounded look in Victor's eyes that never slips by unnoticed, Mr. Li tells him with a wavering voice that his late mother had left her wedding ring behind for reasons unknown (perhaps she knew that she wouldn't live for long and wanted to leave him something to remember her by).

• And when Victor sees the beautiful gold ring encrusted with diamonds whose sheer size and shine certainly were unlike any other he'd ever seen, he knew that that's the only ring he'd ever want to see on his lover's hands. His own family heirloom.

• And so, after spending weeks visiting the best jeweler in Loveland City to make sure that the ring was polished to perfection and cleaned till every gem blinded him in the light, his little velvet box was kept neatly hidden in his beside table, where his little dummy wouldn't think of looking if they've ever had the doubts.

• And even though he'd planned the proposal for literal months beforehand, thinking of how he'd pop the question under the exact same awning in the streets of Paris where they'd had their first kiss, how his tongue would spell out words of love inside their warm inviting mouth, how he'd go down on one knee and present them with the ring that would surely evoke tears in their eyes, how he'd take them to celebrate at the finest restaurant in Paris and feed his new fiancé/e with a tender look in his eyes, nothing of that came to happen, seeing as he completely threw his plan out of the window just a couple of weeks before carrying out.

• It was another rough day at LFG where nothing seemed to go smoothly. One of his investments seemed to be heading down the road of failure and the shock that he'd chosen to fund a loss was overwhelming him, they'd suddenly run out of coffee in the office which was bad news for someone like himself who wakes up at ungodly hours, the board meeting for the afternoon had resulted in chaos upon knowing that one company's funding had been a loss and an uproar against Victor began, he'd snagged the scarf his darling had knitted for him against a nail protruding from the meeting hall's wall, and his car for some odd reason took 5 whole minutes to start up despite having just returned from maintenance.

• His foul mood had been picked up on by Goldman from the start of the day, and as it progressively got worse, he found it well within his rights to call his boss's lover and warn them cautiously of the impending storm they might have to deal with as soon as he returns.

• And that's how Victor came home to the incredible smell of spiced steak soaked in his favorite wine (their cooking had improved massively while living with him, he had to admit), the dining room warmly lit and the fireplace crackling happily. The moment his sweetheart wrapped their arms around his slim waist and nuzzled their face in the crook of his neck, a soft "Bad day, huh?" murmured into his ear, Victor could feel his anger melt instantaneously, being replaced with that familiar light-headedness he associated with being with his one and only love.

• He felt so so grateful at that moment; like all the loneliness he'd felt growing up was all just so he could feel this holy bliss right now and truly appreciate it. He felt as though no pain he'd endured meant anything to him as long as he was able to have moments like these for his entire future.

• And all the preparation he'd made seemed futile, seeing as his entire plan was thrown out of the window the very moment he was wrapped in their embrace. He'd come to realize that this was all he wanted in a marriage; the simplicity they granted him that somehow was so extravagant to him. His throat was clamming up and his body was shaking a little bit, but you can't really blame the man for being so completely taken aback with the intensity of his own love.

• Just like that, he couldn't help but choke out the very words he'd prepared an entire speech to precede: "Marry me."

• Their lover didn't even untangle themselves from his body, didn't even raise an eyebrow in confusion, didn't let out a single gasp of shock. They just simply nodded, a blissful smile on their face, whispering into the solemn air, "That would be lovely," a small giggle escaping, "Of course I'll marry you."

• It was so much easier, so much simpler, so much more natural than he'd ever imagined it would go. It felt like he'd just breathed out, and they'd breathed in sync with him. Like it was something they'd been waiting for for a while now (and perhaps they really had, from the way they smiled so happily like their dreams had just all come true). Even when he gave them the ring he'd stowed away so secretly and watched the excited, loving grin they gave him as he explained that it was his mother's, it seemed as though all his worrying had been for naught. Nothing mattered except for the fact that his beloved was one step closer to being forever his.

• And after they'd finally tied the knot in a wedding equal parts magnificent and intimate, and gotten whisked away on a honeymoon that left nothing desired except for more of Victor's loving, their life as a married couple seemed to have amplified their mutual adoration.

• Their daily routine hadn't changed much, save for the fact that Victor seemed slightly more tender and pliant, bending to their every whim and want, even more so than before (ha! As if that was possible).

• Victor often likes to show affection by offering his help and services whenever he can, because he knows that wielding his experiences to aid his lover shows just how much he worries and cares about them, more than he lets on.

• However, after marriage he tries his best to express his emotions through words as well. Now that they're officially carrying the same last name, he feels the need to share everything hidden inside his heart, because his words of love will stay lingering in the air. And if needed, he'll make sure to stop time and spell out just how much he worships them with his lips and body.

• It's true that the both of them are often away on business trips alone, leaving the other party all alone in the huge house. And while it is indeed agony to be missing their other half, as time goes on, they realize that distance does make the heart grow fonder.

• As the time crawls by, it takes little for Victor to realize that perhaps the only thing missing from their life was someone else to love; perhaps more than one child to brighten up their days---that is, if his lover is up to it, of course...

• His faith in them increases tenfold; knowing that carrying his last name grants them even more power than their own name does. And that reassures him, because he knows that no one would dare challenge the producer from now on. From now on, they were as safe as safe can be. He hates that people doubt their abilities, as it counters his endless faith in them, but he knows that they are now unstoppable and have the means to show every single person that.

Taglist: @thispersoniscrazy

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ggukcangetit · 4 years

Text

Chocolates & Laundry Do Not Mix - JJK fic

title: Chocolates & Laundry Do Not Mix [Prequel to Crime & Punishment]

pairing: jungkook x reader

rating: PG 13

warnings: language, y/n uses a pillow to deal with her frustration, not much else?

word count: 3.5k

summary: when your best friend, Namjoon, asks if a junior from his business ventures class can live with you till his lease comes through, you don’t think much about it. But one month with Jeon Jungkook proves to be extremely difficult because of how little the boy says but how much he seems to topple over without much effort.

a/n: this is the first fic for jungkook’s birthday! happy birthday to the bestest, most lovely, wonderful, soft-hearted boy out there. we love you, koo! wishing you happiness always <3

Before Jungkook

Namjoon is a great guy. He’s smart, funny, considerate, thoughtful, kind, and definitely one of the best looking guys out there. You love him, you really do. But there are times when you wish you could roundhouse kick his dimpled ass out of the window. And this would be one of those moments.

“It’ll only be for a couple of months, y/n.” Namjoon sat down on the grass, his long legs stretching out in front of him. Seokjin reached over you and handed him the last neatly packed chicken wrap he had brought. “The lease at his old place ran out last week, and the place he’s going to move to doesn’t allow tenants before August. You’re the only one of us who currently doesn’t have a roommate.”

You frowned, the wonderfully seasoned chicken inside Seokjin’s wrap not really registering in your system. “Seokjin can’t?”

“You do know that I just graduated and will be moving to a different city in a couple of days, right?” He shot you a look and promptly flopped onto the grass dramatically.

“What about Yoongi?”

“He’s moved in with his girlfriend.” Namjoon quirked an eyebrow. “Do you not read any of the messages in the group chat?”

“Jimin? Hobi?” You were desperate at this point.

“Hobi lives with me. And Jimin lives with Taehyung right now. But the two of them are planning to move into a new apartment before classes start in the fall and Jungkook will be staying with them after that! So what do you say?” Namjoon stared at you expectantly. “Can Jungkook crash at your place for the summer?”

If it were up to you, some random junior from Namjoon’s business class would not be crashing at your modest apartment while you slaved your ass off working part-time so that your job prospects would be minutely better at the time of graduation. But then - you stared at Namjoon’s inquiring gaze and Seokjin’s knowing eyebrow raise - it was never really up to you, was it? No. Somehow, all decisions in your friend group had become a matter of collective responsibility. Yoongi wants to buy a new sound system? Well, it must be compatible with the latest AR gaming technology so that Seokjin can come over and use it whenever he wants. Hobi’s ordering a designer jacket for his birthday? It can’t be orange because Jimin wouldn’t be caught dead wearing orange.

And the list goes on…

What it ultimately came down to was that Jungkook would be staying at your place over the summer. If you said no, your friends would definitely understand… But you would feel like a piece of shit for the rest of the year. So-

“Thanks for letting me stay here, y/n.” Jungkook wasn’t what you had expected. Although you had received very contrasting, even conflicting, descriptions of him from your friends.

“He’s a shy guy,” Namjoon said while walking his bike out of the university courtyard. “Doesn’t speak to a lot of people easily.”

Seokjin, naturally, had said something completely different. “He’s the toughest guy I know. Dude could easily bench press us all at the same time.”

That had left you a little worried so, of course, you decided to speak to Hobi. “Jungkook? Haha! That guy’s really something else! He barely sleeps at night because he’s playing video games! And he’s a snack monster!”

Your mind immediately went to the basket of snacks you kept at your apartment. There was no way this guy would touch your stuff, right?

“Jungkook’s a total prankster!” Jimin giggled while sipping his iced tea. “You should see the stuff he and Tae get up to sometimes!”

“It’s no big deal.” Your reply lacked the minimal amount of enthusiasm required to not be considered a big deal, though. If Jungkook picked up on that, he didn’t say anything.

Week 1 with Jungkook

The first couple of days went by without any issues. He seemed like a quiet guy who kept to himself - so far Namjoon’s description had been the most accurate - and you supposed two months with him around wouldn’t be terrible.

That’s where you were sorely mistaken. Suddenly, you found the fridge full of banana milk cartons - not a few bottles, mind you, but a few cartons of banana milk. Every single cupboard in the kitchen was now stuffed with protein supplements, low carb snacks, and the entire country’s supply of instant ramen. Now, you didn’t have anything against instant ramen per se - heck, you really enjoyed the beauty of a quick delicious meal at the end of a long day - but this was pushing things a little. Because for every single instant ramen packet placed in the kitchen, something of yours had to be displaced rather dramatically.

For instance, you had woken up early one Tuesday morning, craving chocolate chip pancakes like nobody’s business. The chocolate chips were kept on the middle shelf of the third cupboard from the left - as they had been since you had moved in a year ago. You knew exactly where your things were placed and, having the unassailable confidence of an only child who has never had to share their space and now lives on their own as well, you opened the cupboard door without looking up. This was clearly not as smart a decision as you had imagined because a ton of instant ramen packets came cascading down on your head.

Jungkook came rushing out of his bedroom, alarmed by the sound of loud and colourful cursing coming from the kitchen. “Is everything okay?!”

The look on your face was probably one Seokjin would have laughed at until he had tears in his eyes. But Jungkook, completely unacquainted with your temper and the peculiar things that set you off, looked like he had just found out that he was allergic to both banana and dairy. Actually, he looked more like Hobi the day he had come home to find Jimin and Taehyung working on the latter’s art project which had resulted in the most tragic paint spill on the most beautiful white carpet in the history of college roommate sagas.

“Oh shit! The ramen- I’m so sorry, y/n!” Jungkook ran towards you to try and help. Unfortunately, he was both hesitant to physically check if you were okay and eager in his desire to make things alright, resulting in a collision which sent you hurtling towards the ground in what would have been an extremely nasty fall. To Jungkook’s credit, he had some insanely rapid reflexes and managed to catch you before you hit the tiled floor and cracked your skull open.

There was a brief moment between when he wrapped his arm around your waist and when your brows furrowed in annoyance, where you caught a whiff of his apple-scented shampoo and noticed the tiny mole on the bridge of his nose.

Cute.

You wriggled out of his hold and fixed him with a look that, hopefully, conveyed that you were supremely displeased with his ramen placement without actually having to tell him off.

“S-sorry about that.” The look had done its job. Jungkook quickly gathered up the fallen ramen packets and stuffed them into the nearest drawer - which then could not be closed.

“How much ramen do you have…?” Your annoyance was replaced with sheer curiosity at this point.

“Oh, uh… I won a gaming contest and the first prize was a year’s worth of instant ramen.” He scratched the back of his neck self-consciously, cheeks turning pink in embarrassment.

You sighed. “Come on, let me show you the extra storage space behind the shoe cupboard.”

Week 2 with Jungkook

Jungkook wasn’t a loud and inconsiderate roommate. In fact, after the ramen debacle of the first week, he had been coexisting with you quite beautifully. Sometimes you would cook dinner, curse at the fact that you had to cook dinner, and then secretly cherish the absolute delight on Jungkook’s face as he ate the dinner you had cooked. Other times, he would tap into his self-proclaimed noodle know-how and whip up some sort of deluxe instant ramen dish, which always turned out to be heavenly and it was all you could do to stop yourself from moaning in pleasure while you both slurped the noodles.

Then, of course, were the times when you ordered takeout, and somehow attracted all the ravenous souls present on the group chat. It didn’t matter whether it was sushi or tacos or fried chicken or pizza or chinese or even a batch of mini donuts from the tiny shop opposite your apartment - all six of them invariably came knocking a few minutes before the food was delivered.

“Gguk, how’s the summer internship going?” Yoongi was holding his third slice of pizza, sitting on the floor with his legs spread haphazardly. This was one of the rare times when he had dropped by for a random friday hangout - his friday nights were usually reserved for his girlfriend.

Jungkook looked up from the game he had been playing with Taehyung and Seokjin. “Oh, it’s fine. The usual internship bullshit.” He let out a small winner as his car flew past the others just before the finish line.

“This damn game is rigged,” muttered Seokjin. “How come nobody but Jungkook ever wins?”

“That’s because you suck, Jin!” Jungkook ducked out of the way as Seokjin reached out to punch him. “Face it, racing games aren’t your thing.”

At the other end of the room, Hobi was dozing off at the dining table while Jimin and Namjoon played their 9th game of Go Fish. Yoongi bit into the pizza and motioned Taehyung to get him a beer from the fridge.

“We should go clubbing.” Taehyung’s impulsive and, frankly, terrible ideas were usually a result of a three-game losing streak. If there was anyone who hated losing more than Seokjin, it was the raven haired guy with soft curls falling on his forehead, staring at all of you with his piercing gaze.

“I’m exhausted. I had classes from 9-7 today,” said Namjoon, waving his hand dismissively.

“I work on Saturdays, Tae. You know that.” Seokjin got up and stretched his arms above his head. “I’m going to head out now.”

“The rest of us can go then.” Taehyung was nothing if not persistent.

“Hobi’s passed out already. And Soya’s waiting for me at home. So I’m going to drop him and Joon at their place, and then head back myself.”

These negative responses did nothing to deter Taehyung’s determination to go clubbing, which meant that you found yourself smooshed into the back of an uber with Taehyung and Jungkook as Jimin sat shotgun. Not only did you absolutely hate clubbing, but the fact that both Jungkook and Taehyung were very well-built, muscular guys, meant that you basically had one butt cheek of space to sit on.

“You okay?” asked Jungkook, before the four of you walked into the club.

“My left butt cheek is asleep, but otherwise all good.” He giggled at your response, gently laying a hand on your back so that you wouldn’t be separated from the group.

An hour later, you were completely certain of three things.

First off, there was nothing in the world that could make you enjoy clubbing. Not the location, not the music, and not the people you were with. Secondly, the three boys you were with not only had devastating good looks, but also managed to shake up the club with their crowd-pulling dances. Jimin’s style relied heavily on his seductive hip movements while Taehyung was destroying everyone with his smoldering expressions. Jungkook, meanwhile, was running completely on an adrenaline rush, and matched Jimin and Taehyung move for move, adding a sexy amount of aggression to the dances as well.

And finally, Jungkook, despite his muscles and dancing and adrenaline, liked to cuddle when he was extremely exhausted and had someone in his vicinity. That someone happened to be you that night as you came back to the sofa to find him curled up into a ball, his mouth slightly open as he slept peacefully. Your mistake was trying to place a blanket on top of him because you soon found yourself being pulled into his embrace as you became Jungkook’s personal cuddle pillow. You could say that you struggled for a long time, trying to break out of his grasp but he was just too strong for you, so you eventually gave up and fell asleep while cuddling with him on the sofa.

But then you would be lying.

Week 3 with Jungkook

Not that you would ever admit it, but Jungkook had a very pert bottom. As bottoms go, his was definitely somewhere in the top tier. The general consensus on campus was that Jimin and Taehyung were the usual contestants in the battle of the first-rate bottoms. But those of the general consensus had clearly never seen Jungkook in skin-tight jeans, kneeling on the floor while trying to reach for the remote that had fallen under the sofa.

“You’re zoning out again!” Seokjin was seated opposite you and snapped his fingers in front of your face. “You know I hate being ignored, y/n.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t ignoring you…” Your cheeks colored as you tried to rid your mind of the images of Jungkook from that morning, reaching for the highest shelf and flashing a beautiful strip of impeccably shaped abs.

“Tell me you aren’t daydreaming about Jungkook’s ass.”

“I am not daydreaming about Jungkook’s a-” You closed your mouth quickly, slapping Seokjin’s arm for good measure. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“Work’s so boring and you’re so predictably entertaining, y/n,” he grinned and bit into the chocolate cupcake in front of him. “I miss seeing you everyday.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” you grumbled.

“Nah, but seriously, Jungkook’s a solid guy - pun completely intended.” You rolled your eyes as he snickered at his joke. “You two would be good together.”

“You’re well aware of my stance on people setting me up, right?” You raised an eyebrow at him.

“No one’s setting you up. I’m just saying -” Seokjin popped the remaining half of the cupcake into his mouth - “if there’s potential, you shouldn’t stop yourself.”

Unfortunately, any potential that may have been present, completely fizzled out when you got home that afternoon. You had made one thing perfectly clear the day that Jungkook had moved in with his stuff - your snack supply was completely off-limits. Yet here you were, staring at a near empty basket while Jungkook lounged on the sofa with chocolatey fingers and an empty chips packet lying on the table.

Pert bottoms definitely did not trump snack supplies - as Jungkook found out the hard way when a pillow came crashing down on him with the wrath of all your ancestors combined.

“Y/n! What the fuck?!” he yelped, ducking from your well-aimed blows.

“My snacks! They’re off limits! Asshole!” You punctuated each word with a smack of your pillow.

“Stop! Stop!” He grabbed the pillow from your hands and threw it as far as he could. “I’m sorry! I was really hungry and there wasn’t anything else at home!”

His stupid big doe eyes were just too damn sincere and you felt yourself deflating and sinking into the sofa. After making sure that you wouldn’t attack him again, Jungkook sat down beside you, nudging you softly with his shoulder. “I was going to go to the asian store once they open in the evening. Do you want to come with and help me replenish the snack supply?”

You huffed in annoyance but gradually rested your head on his shoulder. Jungkook had lived with you long enough to know that that was a yes.

Week 4 with Jungkook

Choosing movies to watch over dinner was always something you struggled with. Not when you were alone. No, you knew exactly what you wanted to watch. Your Netflix suggestions were appropriately lined up with crime dramas and sci-fi thrillers. It was only when there was someone else watching with you that the situation became contentious. Namjoon had a penchant for documentaries, and Hobi and Jimin liked watching musicals. Seokjin refused to watch anything even remotely close to a horror film, and Yoongi and Taehyung always voted for heavy art films. And Jungkook-

“I am not watching Titanic.” You settled into the sofa with your bowl of pasta, reaching forward to grab the soda can on the table.

“Come on, y/n! It’s a classic!” Jungkook whined. You had realised that the boy whined a lot over little things like movie selections and waking up before 8 am. “A tragic tale of true love.”

You snorted into your food. “True love would’ve been if they’d both survived.”

“You’re so cold.” There it was, the infamous Jeon Jungkook pout. It didn’t make an appearance often, but when it did, you found yourself growing weaker and much more likely to give in to whatever stupid thing he wanted.

“Fine. Put it on. But don’t blame me when I end up scrolling through Instagram the entire time.”

“I won’t,” he grinned and sat down next to you. The sofa dipped considerably and you found yourself sliding towards him involuntarily. It wasn’t that this position was uncomfortable - you were actually really fond of unwitting physical contact with your friends. The only problem was the way your heartbeat quickened every time the unwitting contact was with Jungkook.

By the time the movie was over, Jungkook’s nose was running. It was no secret that he cried during sad movies but you still loved teasing him about how easily characters brought him to tears.

“Damn, look at you crying over Jack and Rose. They’re just fictional characters and Rose didn’t even die! What would you do if I was in their place? Would you cry over me too, Gguk?” You nudged his shoulder playfully.

“No.” His reply was firm and you wondered if he had been offended this time.

“No? Why not?”

“I’d never let that happen to you.”

You could safely say that you had never bolted to the bathroom as quickly as that moment, splashing your cheeks with cold water to bring down the flush.

This wasn’t the only time Jungkook had left you completely speechless, however. He ordered takeout much more than you did, not having time to cook much because of his internship. And his takeout orders usually consisted of either pizza or fried chicken. On most days, you were done with dinner by the time he got home and ordered takeout.

On one such day, you looked up from the spreadsheet you had been working on, your stomach clearly unsatisfied with the grilled cheese sandwich you had eaten a couple of hours ago. Making your way to the kitchen, you rummaged through the contents of the fridge, huffing in annoyance as you found nothing suitable for your current hunger-related dilemma.

“Do you want pizza? I’ve finished but there are a couple of slices left.” Jungkook pushed the box towards you and turned his attention back to his phone. It was a veggie supreme - something that Jungkook always ordered.

“How come there aren’t any olives?” you asked, knowing that that particular pizza store always put olives on their veggie pizzas.

“I asked them to take out the olives.”

“Why? I thought you loved olives.”

“I do. But you don’t eat olives.”

Your mouth hung open for a moment. “But you ordered the pizza for yourself…”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want the olives to stop you in case you wanted to have a slice.”

He hadn’t looked up during the entire conversation but you could see the way his cheeks turned pink and how he kept tugging at his ear. You, yourself, felt your heart soar and bit into a slice of pizza - trying to stop the shit-eating grin from spreading on your face.

After Jungkook

It turned out that Jungkook didn’t need to stay at your place for more than a month. Jimin and Taehyung had somehow convinced their landlord to allow them to move in a month ahead of the designated move-in date, which meant that you were once again living alone.

It was weird. There was a lot of space in your cupboards once again and the fridge didn’t always smell of chocolate shakes and overripe bananas. You were also free to choose whatever movie you wanted to watch with dinner. But something still felt amiss…

You sighed and reached for your basket of snacks, frowning as your fingers swiped at thin air. Your eyes widened as you glanced at your previously well-stocked supply of snacks, noting the distinct lack of at least 75% percent of its contents.

“JEON JUNGKOOK!”

please leave a comment if you enjoyed this story! tagging @holynamtiddies , @hauntedlilies

#jungkook fic #jungkook x reader #c me write bangtan #jungkook fluff #bts fic #jimin #taehyung #seokjin #namjoon #yoongi #hoseok #bts #bts fluff #bts bookclub #happy birthday jungkook!

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daydream-believin · 4 years

Text

The Never-Ending Roadtrip (St. Louis)

summary: (pt 1) Reader joins Douxie in the quest for Nari’s safety. He’ll need company won’t he? - part 4) Doux and Reader get out of Missouri finally but not before one last stop (part 5)

warnings: swearing

word count: 6205

a/n: im getting a smidge impatient on my planned mutual pining slow burn as you can see. mmm i want a piece of st louis butter cake. @blixeon gets credit for putting the douxie trying to keep y/n away from moppet!douxie idea in my head. its not a big plot point here but idk felt i should still mention it

Douxie stared up at the ceiling with dry, unblinking eyes. There were many interesting cracks in the ceiling, barely illuminated by the light streaming in from the bathroom door. He was wide awake, despite not being able to convince himself to move. He was never a morning person, but once he remembered where he was, it was like someone had poured a bucket of ice water on him. Y/n was no longer clinging to him when he woke up, albeit, she was not even in the bed at all when he woke up. That had gave him a fright before he realized he could hear the shower running. Somehow, this was worse than if she’d still been there when he woke up. This meant she woke, untangled herself from him, and was probably going to pretend like it didn’t happen, since she couldn’t possibly know he stayed awake long enough to know about it. Which, while waking up in her arms would have been a little awkward, at least he would have gotten a conversation out of it. An acknowledgement. Something.

Speaking of the shower, somehow that was doing a number on him too. It was so strange. They’ve lived together for years now; they’ve shared a bathroom for years now. He’s heard her shower so many fucking times. No sweat. These feelings were making him silly. Perhaps it was this fucking room. The domesticity of it all, which was a weird thing to say when you literally lived with said person. Yet, he couldn’t stop imagining that he was waking up in His Home, listening to His Wife get ready for work in the en suite of Their Bedroom. She didn’t want to wake him, how sweet. She was always worried about him getting more sleep. He’d go help her with her hair, braid it for her. His hands would run through her soft hair as he styled it. She’d kiss him on the nose before she left to go make him a cup of coffee while he got ready. She knew just how he liked it. They’d brush their teeth together, every morning, just like they did last night.

Bleeding balroths, last night. What was he going to do about last night. His dumb heart wouldn’t just be able to leave well enough alone, apparently. Does he,,, say something? Perhaps he should wait to see if she says something. That would be,, the safer route. He knew one thing for sure though. He wasn’t going to act like he didn’t love every second of it. He’d made up his mind. His life has been way too long and lonely for him to keep this ‘it’s not like I like you’ act up. And for Merlin’s sake, he had died not even three days ago. He had almost been gone, and would have never known the love of his beloved. And family wasn’t just who you have, it was also who you’re with. And he was with Y/n. She was already his family, so why not be his family? Like he dreamed of? Yes, he was going to come clean. If she said something. Yes.

Suddenly, he was aware of a noise. Someone had just knocked on the front door of the room. Or less of a knocking and more of a rapping. Archie’s ear’s flicked, but he didn’t stir. Douxie held his breath. The rapping stopped, but now whoever it was trying to open the door. Thank Merlin he warded that thing up. It couldn’t open from the outside, he made sure of it. The door handle stopped moving. Doux still made no noise. Hopefully whoever or whatever that was had decided to move on to easier prey.

Y/n combed her fingers through her wet hair. It was the best she could do at the moment. She’d try and braid it back while it was still wet, so it wouldn’t get even worse. Y/n pulled on the same clothes she’d been wearing for a week. Well, actually she had been wearing a medieval dress for most of it, but still. She looked in the mirror. Not bad for someone on the run. But they did need to make a shopping trip. As much as Y/n did not want to waste an entire other day to a store (thanks Kmart), and didn’t want to spend more of their small savings they were living off of, they did need some things. Backpacks to keep their few belongings close, one more set of clothes each so they could have something to be wearing while they wash the other set, maybe some pajama pants would be nice, although nonessential, a couple of toothbrushes that weren’t the motel provided ones, plus a tube of toothpaste, soap, a hairbrush, phone chargers, some emergency food that wouldn’t spoil, some reusable water bottles, a fucking first aid kit even, lots of stuff. It’s not like they were able to pack for this trip. Hell, they should probably get Nari an outfit that would cover up her, eh, forest spirit-ness. Her running around in leaves isn’t exactly helping their conspicuousness. Despite Y/n not wanting to add to that list, she sure was getting cold in her short-sleeved top. She needed a jacket. She’d been borrowing Douxie’s a bit for the last few days, but if she just stole it then he would be cold. She needed one of her own, she supposed.

Y/n walked out of the bathroom. Archie and Nari were still snoozing, but Doux looked like he was awake. He sat up as soon as he realized Y/n had come out. He looked, troubled. And he had every right to be, she thought. He had just suffered the loss of his mentor and died himself. He had been blankly staring at the ceiling when she’d first came into the room. He probably had so much on his mind. Thankfully he had Archie and herself. They’d be there for him, she’d make sure of it. It’d be best to give him some more time to think, though. She didn’t want to push too hard. He’d tell her if he was struggling, she was sure of it. He’d been so open lately. And they’d had plenty of talks in the past about not expressing frustrations in their lives. He hadn’t been too open with her when they first started living together and it had made being roommates stressful at first. It wasn’t a problem anymore though. They’d worked through it, and it had even brought them closer.

She told him it was his turn for the bathroom now. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then quietly nodded as he got out of bed and headed for the shower. Strangely, this inn stay has been the most normal things had been all week. It was almost like they were home. She was back in her routine of waking, getting ready, telling Douxie it was his turn to get ready. He was so sweet, he always let her have the bathroom first. So chivalrous, although, she had a sneaking suspicion it was more of his excuse to sleep in a little longer.

It was nice, living with Douxie. It was the first time she’d been on her own. Or, well, not on her own per se, since Douxie was there, but at least away from her aunt. Her aunt had practically raised her, but that didn’t mean she was too grateful for it. She felt guilty about that last part, but not too guilty. Her aunt was pretty cold. It was clear that Y/n was just a charity case to her, a beggar who wouldn’t be looked at twice if not for blood relation. She hadn’t even bothered telling Y/n about their family’s magic until Y/n had stumbled face first into it herself. And even then, she only taught Y/n a minimal number of spells, just enough to control it, so she could successfully hide it. Didn’t need some troublesome untrained wizard ruining the family name and scaring the party guests. Y/n didn’t even know that wizards were pretty much immortal at a certain point until she noticed it herself. The people she had grown up with were all out there getting their pretty adult faces, and she was stuck with a baby face. Her aunt only told her once she questioned it. She was well past being nineteen now, but was going to be stuck like this forever apparently. What a great way to live.

Of course, she was absolutely thrilled when she found out her new roommate was in the same boat as her in that department. It was serendipity. The whole thing with Douxie was perfect, really. She had heard through her friend who worked at Hextech that someone had put up a roommate ad flyer on the company’s bulletin board and she called right away. She hadn’t been having any luck apartment hunting. She couldn’t afford rent on her own with her bookstore job, and Arcadia Oaks wasn’t exactly a college town teeming with people looking for roommates. A wizard roommate would be perfect, and the price was right. So imagine her surprise when said new roommate also turned out to be her boss. Y/n hadn’t even known he was looking for a roommate, let alone that he was a fellow wizard. His old roommate, Jack, had gotten married and moved out last month, he told her. Y/n was surprised at how very easy it was getting into this agreement too, Doux already knew her so he didn’t even interview her. And she didn’t have to worry about new person awkwardness. It really was serendipity. Of course, it hadn’t been all rosy, as mentioned before, but they were really groovin’ together now.

Y/n stretched out on the bed. She could hear the water running through the wall. It had been so awesome living right above her job. She got to sleep in, and she’d get ready, eat some breakfast, and be able to instantly step into the bookstore. She’d never be late ever again. Or she never was late again. That was a depressing thought. But hey, bright side, now they could have all the fun of starting up a new bookstore. Perhaps she could convince Douxie to add on a tea shop this time too. One that had cute little round tables with pretty gingham table cloths and flower vases, filled with flowers that they grew themselves in the pots on their balcony. They’d make sure the new bookstore had a nice window that was meant for a display but they’d leave as a place for Archie to sleep in and make snarky comments as he watched the people go by. Douxie could paint the letters on the signs and window, he was great at that. It’d be a task, but truly, they had to remake their bookstore. Even if not in Arcadia. A new bookstore they could fill up with love, that’d be an idea Y/n could hold on to.

Stars, she loved their bookstore. She loved the smell. She loved the peaceful homey vibe. She loved the man who owned it. Whoops, forget about that last part. She even loved the quirky characters it drew in. One time, she encountered this really crazy lady, and she wasn’t even sure if this lady was real or if she dreamt her, since she was the only witness. But Mordrax’s miracles, was this lady something. It started normally enough, Y/n picking up the store’s landline.

“GDT Arcane Bookstore! Please state your grievances.” She knew in the back of her mind that she was the only person who found her dumb jokes funny, but she still made them to brighten up her own day. Also to piss off Hisirdoux with her unprofessionalism. He made the same passive-aggressive ‘I’m disappointed in you’ face every time. It was fun.

“Yes, Hello. I would like to know if you carry any children’s books.”

“Yes ma’am, we sure do. A whole section.”

“Great. And are you child friendly?”

“Are we-, child friendly? I-, Yes I suppose we are ma’am.”

“Perfect. And you’re open until eight?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Thank you, young lady.”

The whole phone call was odd. Y/n wasn’t too jazzed about being called ‘young lady’ either. She had mocked the lady as soon as the phone call ended, but she shrugged it off, and had forgotten that the whole thing had even happened as she went about her day. Then, at about seven, this lady rolls up. She was dressed to the nines but like, in an old rich person way. Long fur coat, black dress underneath with pearls around her neck. On one arm, she had a fancy purse covered in the logo of a fashion brand Y/n wasn’t going to admit she recognized. In the other, she carried a large porcelain doll, the size of a five-year-old, which was dressed in a frilly pink dress that remined her of the dresses her aunt used to make her wear. When Y/n greeted her, she recognized the voice as the strange caller from earlier. Y/n got the feeling that some sort of shit was about to go down, and couldn’t wait. If only Archie was here.

Fur coat lady sat her doll down on the old loveseat in the sitting area and asked Y/n to keep an eye on the doll while she went to go pick out some books. Emily could be so mischievous sometimes, she told Y/n. She assured fur coat lady that she’d watch Emily like a hawk. The doll’s painted eyes stared into Y/n’s soul. Fur coat lady came back far longer than Y/n was comfortable with. She asked Y/n if Emily had been a good-mannered girl. Y/n just nodded, not sure if she should be encouraging this, on second thought. Fur coat lady then preceded to read the doll nine children’s books in a row, pausing in between only to ask the doll if she had liked it. Y/n was too baffled to even tell this lady to scram, we aren’t a library, you know. It crept closer to eight, and Y/n was actually dreading what was going to happen when she’d have to kick this lady out, but thank the stars, fur coat lady starts telling her doll about how it was close to its bedtime so they couldn’t read any more stories, aww darn, and they had to go now. She thanked Y/n as she walked out of the door. Y/n flipped that closed sign behind her and quickly retreated upstairs for the night. She’d go make a cup of tea to relax her nerves after that encounter. Y/n had plenty of other wild stories of people who’ve stopped by their bookstore. It was great for conversation at parties.

Y/n loved parties. With Douxie came all his friends, and she didn’t mind that one bit. They were always over whenever Doux had time off. It was so nice; it kept their place lively. Y/n cooked and baked a lot, it was one of those skills her aunt insist she have, and having so many mouths to enjoy her food felt good. And whether it was band practice or game night, she was happy to play hostess. Douxie’s friends were fun to talk to. She suddenly had the freedom to invite her own friends over too. Having so many people around all the time had helped her loneliness big time when she first moved in. Her aunt’s house may have been big, but it was empty. Her aunt threw a fancy party a month, but none of the people there were people worth talking to. It was so cold. Their apartment was warm.

Honestly, as insane as it was to think about, Y/n couldn’t see herself ever leaving Douxie to live on her own anymore. At first, this arrangement was supposed to be a temporary thing until she could find a better job and go off on her own. But somehow along the way, ‘the apartment we share’ became Their Apartment, and the bookstore that she happened to operate with him became Their Bookstore. It was nuts, and also the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to Y/n. It was the home she’d never had. Douxie and Archie were her family. Way more so than her aunt ever was. It was beautiful, magical, marvelous. She no longer worked, she just lived. Hell, she couldn’t even remember the last time Doux had formally assigned her a shift. She was just kind of always there. Which she was glad to do. She loved it. And when it was time to stop working, she’d just head upstairs and get to spend even more time with her favourite person. That is, if he wasn’t on one of his bistro shifts. She felt so safe and cared for. She no longer felt alone.

If Douxie wanted to make that, how you say, a little more official, Y/n wouldn’t be opposed to that. She had a hunch that he had some sort of feelings for her, if his recent actions were anything to go by. Although, just like she didn’t want to push him about the angst feelings, she didn’t want to push him in these feelings either. He’d tell her when he was good and ready. Slow and steady wins the race after all. Besides, if she was wrong and he didn’t have feelings for her, she’d definitely be tossing this good thing they had going out the window directly into the dumpster. She had to admit though, waking up this morning cuddled into him was the loveliest way she’d ever woken up in her life. She could get used to that.

She wondered if Douxie would be a wedding person or an elopement person. Not that she expected him to marry her. But it would be nice. She rolled over and found her phone on the nightstand. There wasn’t any harm in looking at some wedding dresses, right? Just in case. Y/n listened to Nari yawn and shuffle over to the bed. She opened an arm for the forest child who snuggled in, curious at what Y/n was looking at. Y/n tilted the phone for her to see. Nari really liked the poufy dresses. She’d point excitedly to the one’s she thought were pretty while Y/n scrolled. While Y/n wasn’t a fan of big frilly stuff herself, she had to admit, those poufy dresses would make her feel like Cinderella, which was never something she’d have thought appealing, but somehow it was. There were some really gorgeous not poufy ones also, and even a cool black one. Some that Douxie might like too. Y/n leaned more towards those, but wasn’t gonna tell Nari that. The veggie lady sure was having as much fun as her right now, surprisingly. Hopefully she wouldn’t blab any of this to Hisirdoux though.

Speak of the devil, he came out of the bathroom and sat on the end of the bed. Y/n quickly closed the app she was scrolling through. She sat up, taking Nari with her. Archie yawned and stretched, after sensing movement in the room. He moved from the chair into Douxie’s lap. After giving Arch a good scratch behind the ears, Douxie turned to Y/n.

“So, what’s today’s itinerary?”

“I-, wait, why do I have to be the one who decides what we do?”

“Because you’re the one who likes to have a plan when it comes to these things.”

“Fair enough.” Y/n pulled up google maps. If she had known she would have to do this she would have done it while he got dressed instead of fantasizing about their wedding. “Okay, so as much as I hate to say this, but we gotta go back to the store today.”

Douxie groaned as he laid back. His still wet hair was gonna dry funky like this, but he didn’t care. “Fine. We’ll do that in Illinois. We gotta get out of this town before anything else.”

“I agree,” she paused, seeing something that caught her eye. It would be frivolous, but she couldn’t help herself from asking “Ooh! Can we stop in St. Louis?”

“St. Louis?”

“Yeah! It’ll be fun, Douxie. We can go sit in those cafés that people go to in the black and white movies, we can go take a cheesy tourist picture of us by the arch thing, and I’m really craving some St. Louis butter cake now.”

Doux laughed. “Okay, but only for a few hours, Love.” The least he could do was let her have a little down time to relax and have fun after this hell week. Highly populated cities were good for throwing off their scent too.

“Thank you,” she went back to her map, snickering, “And we’ll stop in Effingham to shop.” She snorted.

“Effingham?” Douxie said it correctly, in his proper accent, which was not as amusing.

“Effing. Ham. Baby.” He rolled his eyes.

They booked it out of that motel and out of that town. Douxie all but tossed the room key into the creepy innkeeper’s hands as they rushed out. Back on the boat, safe at last. He ran a mental headcount once they boarded. Y/n always held Nari’s hand when they went places, so they wouldn’t have to worry about her wandering off, but it still made Douxie feel better to go over his tiny mental list and make sure they were both still safe and with him. Archie, he didn’t have to worry about as much. Even if the cat-dragon wandered he’d always come back. He could track Douxie by scent for a hundred miles too. Y/n had a habit of getting lost, though. He had to keep an eye on her. He didn’t need her and Nari off in fairyland where the Order could find and abduct them at any given time.

Douxie’s hair had still been damp when they set off, but the wind took care of that for him. Sure, wind-tousled bangs were in, but not bangs tousled by real wind. He was sure he was rocking it though. He could pass it off as something he did on purpose. People already thought his relatively tame style was outlandish, they’d just think the messy hair was part of the look. His only qualm was Y/n. He didn’t want to embarrass himself to her any further. His Camelot self already inflicted so much damage in that department this week. That moppet with a man bun had messed up spells, quoted sappy poetry to her, bragged about being Merlin’s apprentice, and even tried serenading her with his lute in attempts to impress her. It was mortifying. He had spent the first part of their Camelot adventure distracted by having to keep Y/n away from his younger self. It was not good for the whole ‘save time’ mission. Thankfully, he had Claire there with him, who had agreed to help him once she had buggered the information out of him. Thank Merlin for nosy teen girls. Claire was a godsend.

He had to admit, he was a smidge disappointed that she didn’t bring up the cuddling. Y/n hadn’t even made a joking reference to it in passing. He would have to bring it up then. But when, how? It wasn’t exactly something that would come up in natural conversation.

He watched her, hanging over the ship’s railing again. They passed a field with some cows and she made sure to point at them and say cows. He smiled at that; Y/n always managed to make him smile. He could recall how bad he had felt when Jack left and he thought he was going to have to fire her, his only employee, to keep up with rent. He had asked Zoe if he could put up a flyer in Hextech in a desperate attempt to find someone before that had to happen. And low and behold, among the three answers he got to the ad was miss L/n herself. It was an easy decision really, and it took away the uncertainty since he knew she was someone that he already liked. As a bonus, Y/n didn’t have a familiar of her own that might fight with Archie, because let’s be real, as much as Douxie loved Archie, the dragon-cat wasn’t afraid of stepping on toes. Although, it did feel kind of strange to give Y/n her paycheck and then for her to hand a little more than half of it back to him on rent day. But it just worked.

He remembered the first time he walked by the fridge to see that not only had Y/n added some fridge magnets to the kitchen, but she had taken the time to write a message to him. It, um, was sort of a rude note, meant to tease, an inside joke. Which he thought was funny, he just wished Zoe hadn’t seen it. It was hard to explain, and Zoe never let him hear the end of it. Archie got a kick out of it too. Y/n would switch the message almost daily, and it never failed to make him smile. He still had to deal with his friends seeing them and teasing him about it, but he’d never change her magnet jokes for anything. They would stay there until she replaced them with equally embarrassing messages meant just for him. It felt sweet to know someone was thinking about him enough to come up words meant to make him laugh on a daily basis.

They had just passed by a town called Eureka, which meant they were coming up on St. Louis. Good. Douxie couldn’t wait for lunch. He had the appetite of a winning fat bear these past few days. Probably the stress. That butter cake Y/n had mentioned was sounding so tasty. He could almost smell it. What Douxie hadn’t considered when he agreed to this was that the magic flying ship couldn’t go through metropolitan areas. Well, it could, but it’d be seen. So despite his growling stomach, he wound up taking the ship around the entire concrete jungle of Missouri, staying in the forested areas. He figured he could park the boat over in Illinois, just outside of St. Louis. This added a whole other hour to the trip than he was expecting, but now at least he knew to take large cities into consideration when choosing routes.

After hiding the boat in a heavily wooded area, the four took the bus into downtown. So when Y/n said she wanted to go to an old café from a movie, she had meant a very specific old café from a specific movie. She had told him it wasn’t a big deal and there were plenty of other cafes, but Douxie was gonna get her there by golly. And he did. The happiness written on her face was worth the extra bus miles. And wow, this café had some delicious food. They had salmon, which Archie enjoyed a little more than usual. Said something about paying himself back. As if he paid for anything, being a cat. That St. Louis butter cake did not disappoint. Archie was pretty fond of the cake too. It was too sweet for Nari, though. Y/n savored every bite. Doux watched her, while he ate his own, and it was so cute how smiley this was making her. He’d learn the recipe for this cake so he could make it for her once they got… home.

Douxie was still trying to shake off that depressing thought when Y/n finished up and was already trying to get the move on. Not without getting a picture first, of course. Not satisfied with just the scenery of the café itself, she begged Douxie to pose for her in various spots around it. He obliged, despite his scruffy appearance. She didn’t think he was that scruffy, and what was better than pictures of her favourite person in a cool place she’d always wanted to go. She also snapped one of Archie to post to her cat insta she secretly kept of him. Douxie knew about it, and contributed pictures to it himself, but neither of them were about to tell Archie he was internet famous as archie_the_emo_kitty. These pictures were going to hold good memories in them. All pictures do.

There was one more photo Y/n wanted to get. Silly cliché tourist picture with the gateway arch in the background. She wanted at least one of just her and Douxie, after the group photo. She’d have to somehow get one of Archie too, since she wasn’t about to pass up the chance to make a pun in the caption about Archie being in front of the arch. As she pulled Douxie close to get the picture, she got an idea. She asked him if they could get just one more. He was holding the phone since his arms were longer so he was able to get better angles with them both in it. He agreed, happy to do anything to keep that grin on her face longer. This time, when he leaned down to make their faces closer together, Y/n gave him a kiss on the cheek. The shutter snapped. Look, she wasn’t going to push, but she could nudge. Y/n pulled away and grabbed the phone to look at how it turned out, so cute, and Douxie just stayed there, leaning over, still as a statue, with wide eyes.

“Did you just- k-kiss me?” He didn’t so ecstatic. Maybe she was reading him wrong after all. Okay, time to deny.

“Yeah, it was just a cheek kiss, Doux. It was a cute pose for our picture, see,” She showed him the picture. A perfectly captured moment where they looked so happy. Where her lips would forever be on his still burning face. “Friends do it all the time.”

“Oh. Ah, okay.” That sounded disappointed, and his face wasn’t the picture of joy before, but now he just looked crestfallen. Okay so she wasn’t reading him wrong before. Good to know. She’d,, have to fix this now. She casually grabbed his hand and laced their fingers. That got him looking back up from the ground.

“C’mon, we’ve got about ten minutes to catch the next bus.”

~ ~ ~

Effingham was a quaint place. Y/n had only chosen it for it’s funny name, but it was surprisingly pretty okay. It was home to the world’s largest cross. Which would be cool, for it’s target audience, Y/n supposed. And they had a train depot. Fun. And exactly one singular popular restaurant. Which wasn’t that much more than Arcadia had, Y/n had to give it to them. They were in this tiny little mall, to see about finding some spare clothes. Y/n stopped dead in her tracks to gawk at a store that’s sign identified itself as Rural King. She tugged Douxie’s hand.

“Oh we gotta go in there.”

Douxie took one look at it and shook his head, “Are you really going to drag us into a hunting store just because it has a silly name?”

“No, I guess not,” Y/n took one last look at the place, “Can I at least get a pic of you posing in front of it?”

“Fine.” Douxie suppressed a grin as he complied with her silly request.

Once they got into a real store though, Douxie leaned over to Y/n to tell her something without the clerk hearing. “Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you, I’ve got an appearance modifier spell I’ve perfected over the years. We’re not actually here to buy anything, just get some inspiration.”

Y/n nodded, fascinated. Well, that’ll take care of the extra spending problems. Now came the fun part, finding a new look for Nari. Speaking of whom, she was over at a rack, trying on those fake fashion glasses without real lenses in them. She looked really cute in every pair she tried on, and they helped obscure her face. Good. She really took a liking to this square tortoiseshell pair. Y/n took a mental note. It was going to be getting cold soon, and plants tend to freeze in the cold, so they took the veggie lady over to go check out the winter coats. Nari picked out a puffer that looked pretty comfy, but she didn’t like that it was red. It reminded her of Bellroc. Douxie assured her that the one he’d make could be any color she liked. Not surprisingly, she wanted it to be green.

Y/n just decided on a simple outfit for herself, consisting of a black and white striped long-sleeved tee, a black short sleeve tee to layer over that, and a classic pair of jeans. It was easy, comfortable, and didn’t draw much attention. A band kid staple too. Nari wanted to be similar to Y/n and also decided on a striped tee and jeans to go under her coat. Now they just needed to find her something to contain that gorgeous head of grass. Y/n glanced over to see Douxie trying on a cap in the hat section. Perfect. They’d make her a hat. It’d be a big hat, but nothing too much.

Douxie actually did buy a couple of backpacks from the shop. Y/n was a bit confused but he told her how for some reason he couldn’t enchant something that was technically an illusion itself so he had to buy physical bags since he wanted to enchant them to be infinite vessels or something. Y/n nodded. This was interesting. She was pretty good at the magic she did know but it was mostly by instinct. No one had really taught her the technical side of it like this. She never really knew how stuff worked, just that it worked. They headed to the dollar store after finishing up with the clothing, which surprisingly, this little mall had in it for some reason. They quickly found all those necessity items they needed and got out of there fast. They were burning daylight after all.

Once back at the boat, greeted by Archie who was glad they came back within a decent time this go around, Douxie got to work. First, he enchanted those backpacks. Y/n watched his every move, fascinated, and taking mental notes. He stuffed the supplies into the bags, making sure each had emergency food and medicine just in case they’d ever get separated. The first aid kits were a great idea, considering he didn’t know much healing magic himself and Y/n could only do a temporary pain relief spell. Having stuff to bandage up wounds in their bags made Douxie feel slightly better.

Y/n filled Douxie in on the specifics of Nari chosen disguise, and he set to work on that. It came out pretty cute. Nari liked her new duds, taking her time to look over herself. Y/n handed the veggie lady her phone with the front facing camera on so Nari could use it as a mirror. She really liked that. Y/n snickered at Nari trying out different angles.

He moved onto Y/n. He didn’t magically fairy godmother her like he did the forest child, he just made her a spare set of clothes to go in that backpack. He made them according to her request, but paused at the tee shirt. “Do you want me to put a logo or something on this?”

Y/n twirled her hair around her finger. “Hmm. I’m thinking, Ash Dispersal Pattern. They’re my favourite band, ever heard of them?”

Douxie laughed as conjured up the tee. He picked one of his favourite designs from past merch. It could be considered vintage now, but it wasn’t that long ago to Doux. He fancied the idea of getting to see her in his merch a lot more now. She did have one of their tee shirts back in the bookstore, but she didn’t wear it often as it was in rotation with other band’s tees. He didn’t have competition anymore, it seems. He grinned as finished up.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, actually. Now that I know you can just magic up clothes for yourself, I would like your hoodie.”

“I can make you a hoodie like thi-“

“No, no, I want the one you’re wearing, thank you. It’s warm and familiar and it smells like you.” She said half-joking, half-serious. “It would make me feel safer.”

Douxie couldn’t believe what he was hearing. In fact some part of him thought he may have just daydreamed that. He wordlessly forked over the hoodie. She took it merrily and put it on, giving it a sniff for good measure. Now he really was daydreaming.

“Thank you, Dewdrop!” Oh, he had a pet name now. He’d hadn’t heard that one yet. Frisky people had called him all sorts of strange and embarrassing things over the centuries. But this one was a first. He guessed it was a play on his name. Dewdrop, ay? That was so soft and sweet. A shiny little dewdrop, the first thing you see in the morning. Ah. It seems that miss L/n was plotting to kill him. She was succeeding.

#douxie x reader #hisirdoux casperan x reader #hisirdoux x reader #douxie casperan x reader #douxie imagine #hisirdoux casperan imagine #hisirdoux imagine #douxie casperan imagine #douxie #hisirdoux casperan #toa douxie #douxie casperan #my writing #nert

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driversmutbucket · 4 years

Text

Kitten XI

Hey! It’s me! Sorry about the impromptu hiatus, but, ya know, life.

Kylo Ren AU x Reader

Warning: NSFW, minimal plot - maximum smut, eating assssssss, spanking (with belt), oral sex.

💋💋💋💋

1 year later

You pulled the fridge door open with such force that Kylo looked over from where he was making a coffee.

Grabbing a bottle of Pinot Gris from in the door you were aware, in your peripheral vision, of Kylo’s eyebrows shooting into his hairline.

“Not this time then?” He asked gently.

“Obviously!” You snapped, a surge of venomous anger washing over you.

You pulled out a wine glass and slammed the cupboard door shut.

“Kitten.”

The tenderness in his voice was all it took. You burst into tears- guttural, gasping sobs.

“I don’t-...why-...” you tried.

His arms were around you within seconds, pulling you into the warmth of his chest, hands rubbing soothing circles on your back.

—

Infertility was a bitch.

You never had any indication, apart from being the wrong side of 30, that you would have any trouble conceiving.

There was nothing wrong per se, with either of your reproductive systems. It just wasn’t happening.

You had tried for 6 months au natural.

Now, you had a regime of pills and injections that had taken over your life.

Sex had become monotonous.

You had never been more miserable.

—

“I can’t do this anymore.” You sniffed, “I feel sick all the time, my moods are completely erratic, Kylo, I can’t….i’m so…. ” tears were threatening to spill out of your eyes again.

You were snuggled up on the sofa, Kylo stroking your hair, your head resting against his chest, the beating of his heart calming you.

“You’re done, I can see that, it’s ok,” He soothed, “i want my happy wife back.”

“You’re not disappointed?” You asked in a small voice.

“Not in you, never in you, babe, but I’m really fucking certain there is no God.”

You snorted, breaking into a small smile.

—

It was like you both breathed an unspoken sigh of relief, after putting conception on hold. You gleefully packed away a pharmacy worth of medications and ovulation strips and deleted the multiple apps off your phone. Good riddance.

It wasn’t that you weren’t sad, of course you were, but there was also a part of you that was content with letting the universe decide.

Now you were on a mission to get your sex life back. The one that had been smothered under expectation, ovulation cycles and pharmaceuticals.

You hadn’t had sex in 2 weeks. The longest you had ever gone in your relationship. There was a sense that perhaps you were both decompressing from the intensity of the last 6 months. The clinical, downright boring, let’s-get-this-done sex to try and conceive. And my god, quantity was certainly not better than quality.

Tonight you were making an effort, having even finished work early and had your hair done. It had been woefully neglected.

The idea had been sparked by a dress in the back of your closet that you had caught sight of this morning. You had worn it the first time you met Kylo. It was black, tight in all the right places with a plunging neckline, surprisingly it was in one piece, despite being almost ripped from your body that night. You smirked at the memory.

—

Pulling open the door to the bar, you scanned the dim room for your husband.

You spotted him in a back corner booth, in head to toe black. His handsomeness still gave you butterflies. The way his dress shirt buttons strained just a fraction due his broad physique and his ability to dwarf the majority of furniture made you bite your lip and squeeze your thighs.

Kylo looked up and saw you when you were a few feet from the table.

He froze, slowly placing down his drink, jaw slackened.

Good.

Hair freshly styled, a fair whack of makeup and a sexy outfit had you feeling like a new woman.

You had forgone underwear, the bodice of the dress was tight enough to squish your breasts in place, the plunge of the neckline ending a few inches above your belly button. Long sleeves and a knee length hem kept the garment in the realm of tasteful. You opted for black stilettos, even though they were hell to walk in, you knew he loved them.

“Jesus Christ.” He half choked as you say down next to him.

His eyes lingered briefly on your cleavage before drifting up to the dainty gold necklace he had given you on your wedding night.

“Hello, Sir.” You purred, unable to suppress a grin.

His eyes flashed in acknowledgement as he recognized the dress you were wearing.

“Kitten.” His voice was almost a growl.

You picked up the drink he had pre-ordered you, sipping and meeting his searing gaze.

You leaned into him, placing a hand on his thigh,so your lips were right beside his ear.

“When I have finished this drink, I want you to take me home, and fuck me like you did before you knew my name.” You whispered, grazing your lips along his jaw and placing a quick kiss on his lips.

A smirk slowly appeared on his face as you took another sip of your drink, watching him.

“That depends.” He mused, picking up his glass and swirling the dregs of an old fashioned.

You raised an eyebrow, as his hand trailed up your thigh.

“Are you going to be a good girl?”

He felt you clench, his large hand was rubbing soft circles at the top of your thigh. His smirk only got bigger.

“Yes, sir.” You nodded.

“Then be a good girl and finish that drink, before I get us arrested for indecent exposure.” He quipped, before draining his cup.

You all but gulped down the cocktail.

You walked with Kylo to the bar, his hand rested on the small of your back.

As he handed over his card to pay, the hand drifted down and squeezed your butt, before patting it softly.

You looked up at him with a grin, “subtle.”

“Don’t get mouthy with me, Kitten.” He warned in a low murmur.

Entwining hands, you walked out into the night air to begin the short walk home.

You had walked as fast as your stilettos had allowed. Kylo was near striding, which had you giggling and cursing as you tried to keep his pace.

“Thank god!” You gasped, staggering into the elevator, behind Kylo, slightly puffed.

Kylo leant against the opposite wall of the elevator, eyes raking over your body.

“I’m not wearing any underwear.” You offered cheekily.

His eyes snapped up to yours almost in time with the elevator opening at your floor.

You exited before him with a grin, hightailing it to your door.

You toyed with his belt, grazing his growing bulge with your fingers as he fumbled with lock on the front door.

“Fucking brat, you have no patience.” He hissed, finally getting the door unlocked and pushing you inside.

“Says you, who dragged me home.” You countered, looking up at him.

He cupped your jaw and ran his thumb roughly across your lips. “You better be naked by the time I get to the bedroom Kitten. But leave those shoes on.” He pushed his thumb into your mouth, and you sucked it greedily.

“I need to think about how I’m going to punish you for being so mouthy.” He outright grinned as he pulled his hand away and turned you in the direction of the bedroom, smacking your ass.

You walked with an exaggerated sway of your hips. Pulling down the zip of your dress as you went. You could feel his eyes burning into your back.

Walking into the bedroom you kicked off the dress and bent yourself over, resting your elbows on the bed. You knew your legs looked great in these heels.

You were wet from the anticipation alone.

You shivered with excitement as you heard his footsteps.

You could feel him behind you, heard his belt being undone. You stayed still and quiet, like a good girl.

You jerked as the cold leather of his belt was dragged over your cunt, he slapped your clit with the doubled-over belt. Not hard, but enough to make you gasp.

“Soaking.” Kylo murmured.

He cracked the belt on your ass, you yelped at the sharp pain that quickly gave way to a wave of pleasure.

“Good girl.”

Another. You didn’t yelp this time, just uttered a guttural moan.

It seemed his patience was limited, you heard the belt be dropped on the floor before he took an ass cheek in each hand and squeezed.

“Kitten, you look so perfect bent over for me in those heels, this peachy ass- fuck!” His voice was rough.

“Thank you, Si- oh god!”

Kylo buried his face between your legs. You peeked back, he was fully clothed, on his knees, and you doubted you had seen anything more erotic.

He ran his hands up and down your legs, as his tongue probed your entrance.

You pushed back against his face unconsciously.

His hands traveled up and kneaded your butt cheeks again, spreading them, your whimpers of pleasure morphed to filthy moans as his tongue dragged upwards and he must have been spurred on, because he began to eat your ass with enthusiasm.

Your legs were shaking, you hadn’t experienced pleasure like this in, what? Months? God, you had forgotten how good it could be.

You whimpered as he pulled away.

“Lay down, baby girl, give those legs a rest, you’ve done so well, Kitten.” He murmured, guiding your shaking body to the bed, “need to make you cum before I fuck you.”

Laying on your back you had hardly caught your breath before Kylo pushed your legs open again and wrapped his plush lips around your clit.

You arched your back with a moan as he plunged two fingers into your warmth and sucked your clit.

“Ohfuckohgodbabyplease!”

Another finger and a subtle change of angle had you orgasming so hard your eyes watered and a rather large gush-

“Holy shit!” You yelped.

“That was…...so hot.” Kylo said huskily.

His pupils were blown, hair rumpled, and he was still fully clothed as he looked at you from between your legs.

“A lot of pent up orgasms.” You mumbled sheepishly.

You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you had climaxed - as sad as that was.

“I know babe, I’m so sorry, fuck, we just…..” he sighed with a look of anguish.

“It’s ok, it’s over with.” You reassured him. “Now can you please hurry up and get naked?”

The smirk returned, “I’ve missed this.”

Kylo placed some quick kisses down your thighs before standing up and beginning to strip off his clothes.

You watched, propping yourself up on your elbows, smuggly thinking, that is my husband.

“Are you gonna let me ride you?” You asked, eyes fixated on Kylo’s cock as it was released from the confinement of his trunks.

You had had enough missionary let’s-get-this-done sex to last a life time.

He didn’t answer, instead, he sat against the headboard. You crawled over to him, as he slowly pumped his cock.

You straddled him eagerly, batting his hand away from his cock and quickly replacing it with your own.

He cupped your butt as you hovered, lining yourself up.

“God, I love you.” He breathed, eyes roaming your body.

You beamed at him before easing down onto his cock with a sharp inhale.

“Mmmmph fuck! So good.” You kissed his lips gently as you rolled your hips experimentally, “I love you too.”

He squeezed the flesh of your buttocks, helping you fuck yourself on his cock.

You buried your hands in his hair, and kissed him. You hadn’t kissed with urgent, fiery lust in weeks. Within seconds you were moaning into each other’s mouths as your tongues did a well rehearsed dance. Nipping and sucking each other’s lips as your movements on his cock became more frantic.

“Not gonna last.” Kylo panted, pulling away from your mouth.

“Don’t care.” You whimpered, “please touch me.”

One of his hands moved to your front and dipped in between your bodies, seeking your sensitive clit.

“There! Hnnngh!” You cried as he began rubbing tight circles.

Your forehead dropped to rest on his shoulder as you felt his hips stutter, he came with a groan beneath you. You placed little kisses down his neck as he let his head rest back against the headboard.

The second orgasm that washed over you was less intense but just as magical, your toes curling while you made little noises of pleasure into Kylo's neck.

“We are never having sex for the sake of it again,” You mumbled, snuggling into your spent husband, “not when it can be like that.”

“Never.” He vowed.

———

Tag list: @reyloaddict55 @candycanes19 @jediminddicks1000 @finn-ray-nal-beads @maybe-your-left @thegreenmatt @morby @sydneyssmut @contesa-lui-alucard @millenialcatlady

#fan fiction #filth and smut #kylo ren au #kitten #reader x kylo #smutbucket #kylo ren x reader

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alexa-lightwood-blog · 4 years

Text

Little Trouble Maker

There was no alternative. You were faced with a choice that, quite frankly, terrified you.

Okay, maybe you were being a tad melodramatic but this was your baby, well your guinea pig that you would be leaving. Work had decided to whisk you away with but a moment's notice and the only person who you could turn to was your boyfriend.

Crowley:

Concern, much concern on your part, you knew about his more serpentine nature and worried about how he would cope with Cinder. Sure it was only temporary, a day or two at most but still...

You were surprised at just how quickly Crowley had agreed, and with minimal protesting. That may have been partially to do with the fact that you had handed him Cinders’ cage and supplies before bolting out of the door, leaving him no time to change his mind.

Now what you hadn’t done, in your haste, was mention some of Cinders’, well, quirks as you would put it. This led to a phone call at about 2′o’clock in the morning which your tired brain could barely comprehend. Cinder had apparently grown bored of being in her cage and decided to visit her new friend, which meant opening the cage door and climbing the stairs to Crowley’s room.

Now whilst Crowley didn’t need sleep per se, he still liked to doze which meant that he had been totally unprepared to find a guinea pig mere inches from his face. Deciding that no sudden movements was the best way to go, he had slowly moved to phone you.

Upon your return you found Crowley sat next to the cage, reading a large herbology book to Cinder, every so often slipping a piece of carrot or two through the bars to Cinder who had huddled next to him by the bars.

Needless to say you were surprised but pleasantly so, making a mental note to ask Crowley to guinea-pig sit more often.

Aziraphale:

Reluctant at best you were most concerned about Cinder causing Aziraphale trouble by escaping her cage.

Being the sweetheart that he is there was no hesitation at the opportunity to help you out, You apologised profusely for the inconvenience but Az would hear nothing of it, only ushering you through the door so you wouldn’t be late.

All was well, at first, Aziraphale waited on Cinder and her every whim, keeping to your exact schedule.

But, it took about three hours for him to begin giving her extra treats, miracling little toys and trinkets for her amusement. All was well, until night time.

Aziraphale had retired to his room, leaving Cinder alone in the cage. Now you had been quickly ushered from the apartment so you couldn’t really tell him about the havoc that Cinder would wreak if left unchecked so cue the Angel’s utmost confusion at hearing scuffling on the floor outside his room, followed by a loud ripping sound.

Going to investigate he found Cinder happily perched on a mound of seeds and food pellets looking almost smugly at the cage door hanging open.

Well, it’s safe to say that he was hesitant to turn his back on the ball of mischief from that moment onward.

When you returned, tired from your travels, you had been pleased to find the cutest scene before you, Az and Cinder sat together on the floor of the living room, an array of guinea pig toys surrounding them. Aziraphale was most confused as to why you were adamant to take a photo before the two moved.

You were even more pleased when Aziraphale began to ask to watch over Cinder more often, even when you were not out of town on business. The only downside was Cinders minor weight gain from Aziraphale’s treats.

#good omens #good omens fluff #good omens crowley x reader #good omens x reader #good omens aziraphale #good omens crowley #good omens aziraphale x reader #crowley x reader #aziraphale x reader

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art-now-india · 3 years

Photo

WALL OF EXOTIC FLOWERS, Baljit Chadha

FLOWERMAN CREATED A WORLD RECORD http://baljitchadha.blogspot.in The exhibition with the most paintings of flowers in the world This certificate is given by WORLD RECORD ASSOCIATION / LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS-INDIA -2014 Baljit-chadha.artistwebsites.com http://www.youtube.com/edit?ns=1&videoid=fCTt1B51fJA http://www.1wra.org/index.php/Worldrecord/detail/id/1241 MY NEW SERIES ZEN MOKSHA FLOWERS/ MANN FLOWERS/MIYOKO FLOWERS /BALJIT’S IKEBANA A PURE HEAVENLY GIFT FOR YOU FRIENDS N RELATIVES • THESE ZEN-MOKSH FLOWERS ARE CREATED WITH A SENSE OF GIVING INNER PEACE,TRANQUILITY, HAPPINESS, SOLACE AND A SENSE OF FULFILMENT, ONENESS WITH THE SUPREME. • I HAVE TRIED TO BRING THEASE ELEMENTS IN MY PAINTINGS,THE FLOWERS YOU SEE DON’T EXISTS, THE MOVMENTS OF MY HANDS,FLOW OF COLORS ARE THE GIFT OF ALMIGHTY GOD. • ZEN-JAPANEASE ZEN IS A SPIRTUAL INSPIRATION; THEY ARE PURE EXPRESSION OF ARTIST’S SPIRITUAL AWARENESS. JAPANEASE ZEN ART HAS ALWAYS BEEN MEANT TO TOUCH PEOPLE FAR AND WIDE. ZEN PAINTINGS ARE OF GREAT POWER, PURE, AND TOUCHING DEEP IN THE HEART, MIND AND SOUL. • MOKSHA- Freedom from life circle. Moksha is attained by dis identification with the body and mind, which are temporary and subject to change, and realization of our true identity Moksh is positive concept in two important ways. First it stands for the realization of the ultimate Reality, a real enlightenment. The mukta is not just free from this or that, It is the master of sense and self, fearless and devoid of rancor, upright yet humble, treating all creatures as if they were he himself, wanting nothing, clinging to nothing. In Sikhism one rises from the life of do’s and don'ts to that of perfection — a state of "at-one-ment" with the All-self. Secondly, the mukta is not just a friend for all, he even strives for their freedom as well. He no longer lives for himself, he lives for others. • APPRICIATIONS • Very interesting work Baljit, the spontaneity, the original technique and the spiritual journey! • i hear music from your flower paintings. What a happy movement! • Baljit! I appreciate that! You have a grand body of work here that shows me some Van Gogh, Miro and Monet and countless others within your style and creativeness. A magnificent talent to behold and appreciate! Keep it up! • I like the original exposition of your beautiful artwork. • Beautiful, cheerful, great colors! • Very fine expressive all Your floral art, not usual • Simply beautiful .It is with great pride and pleasure that I am FEATURING your artwork this week on our special edition of our TOP FEATURES on the Wisconsin Flowers and Scenery Homepage. Your work shows expertise and love in the presentation of this fine art piece. Thanks much for sharing your works with us and being a member of our family of friends and fine artists in our WFS group. Aboard. Liked, Forever .This series is enchanting Baljit, all wonderful visions. Masterful use of your colors creating serene energy. .Baljit, I love these stalks of beauty is a true honor and privilege to FEATURE this creative and wondrous piece of art work on the WFS site, from one of our honored and prestigious members. This awesome piece of beauty is what we are looking for to promote and let others see, including other artists and potential customers, as your works are some of the Best of the Best in my Book! Thanks much for sharing this beauty with us. Liked Forever, Elvisty and love the colors of the floral stems. • • PROFILE • Baljit Singh Chadha • • I grew up as a curious, investigative child helped by my parents’ encouragement to explore and to learn without fear and hesitation. The wonder and awe in God’s creation always held me spell bound. I ploughed my curiosity through love of creation and creativity. At a young age of nineteen years I sailed to a land called Japan that has for long centuries been spiritually bound with India. Like a sleepy rose the petals of my creativity opened as I drank like a honey-bee the nectar of ancient and highly evolved culture of Japan. Japanese art of painting is high meditation in feel and in expression. My Japanese godmother Ms Otha Miyoko a great Japanese artist was my first teacher. She affected my style and expression early on. My journey in art continued and I evolved a style of art that has minimal gap in feeling and expression. Rapidity and quickness of expression in my art comes from the well of inner spirituality. My art is not planned, thought-out and cerebral it is based on spontaneity. Abstract Expressionism is a wider term and my art follows it in variegated dimensions. In my art I experiment with different painting instruments and techniques. My dependence on brushwork is rather limited. I frequently and freely use spatulas, wooden sticks, masking, and sand-mix, push bottles and what comes handy in the moment. I use acrylic with mix media. I have developed acrylic based glazes that were possible earlier only with oil paints. The glazes impart a charm similar to enamel glazes. I created a new technique called ( FLOAT ON COLORS). My art journey finds depth and width in continuous experimentation, forays into the unknown and choosing challenging metaphors of expression. I did an installation (Wall of Divine flowers) with 12000 painting on 12-12-12-12hrs-12mnts-12sec at Zorba in New Delhi and donated entire collection to Smile Foundation New Delhi, for a girl child education. Where my art journey will take me next I leave to higher forces. Presently I offer you ZEN MOKSHA FLOWERS /MANN FLOWERS/MIYOKO FLOWERS AND WALL OF HEAVENLY FLOWERS as my next creations. Group Shows;- Newyork, Singapore, • Canvas Art Gallery , Nehru Place, Delhi 2006 • Studio Vasant, Vasant Vihar New Delhi, 2006, 2007 • Prabhat NGO, New Delhi, 2007 • Nithari, Canvas Art Gallery, 2007 • Sahaj Sankalp, Habitat Centre, New Delhi , 2008 • Aspiration, Charity show at Epicenter Gurgaon, 2008 • New Finds, Singapore, 2008 • Group Show at World Fine Art Gallery, New York, 2008 • Reverberation Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 2008 • Art for Prabhat Presents 'The Eternal Circle' MAY-2009 • Art Ponixs Mumbai-2013 Solo Show • Studio Vasant, New Delhi, 2006,2007 • Studio Vasant, New Delhi 2008 • DLF Mall, Saket, New Delhi 2009 • STUDIOVASANT,NEWDELHI • STUDIOVASANT,NEWDELHI-2011 • STUDIOVASANT,NEWDELHI-2012 • WALL OF DEVINE FLOWERS-ZORBA,NEWDELHI 2012(world record) • WALL OF EXOTIC FLOWERS-EPI CENTRE GURGAON-2013 • HOME& interior expo, EPI centor.GURGAON-2013 • Independence day Celebration-EPI CENTRE-2013 • Art-Phonix-NEHRU CENTRE MUMBAI-2014 Artist friend Baljit S. Chadha has a lasting honeymoon with flowers in his artistic expression. He paints sometimes with frugality of a Zen master. I can understand that as he had his early training in painting in Japan where he lived and studied as a teenager and had the benefit of the tutelage of great Japanese masters. But his present series on flowers nonplussed me with wonder and joy. He has in the present works a new dimension and a new personality of flowers that I have not seen before. This is because he has distilled the expression from his inner joy and happiness that is the essence of flowers per se and not from their forms. His flowers have a nearly expressionistic, abstract persona. He uses a watercolour like free flow of colour and tonalities to invest his work with a sensual poetry. His works are acrylic on paper and therefore amenable to idiosyncratic overflows that lends a fresh charm to his oeuvre. Another landmark quality of Baljit’s new works is that they are rendered in fiery shiny glazes. As we know glazes are traditionally done in oil paint medium. But Baljit has worked them with acrylic colour and without the use of pure impasto. The colours diluted with water float and embrace each other and still have lustrous intensity. Baljit Chadha has created a fresh stylistic edifice and his creative expression jumps from the visible-familiar to spiritually felt flowers in a divine Eden. Viktor Vijay Kumar Director Curator European Artists’ Association Germany • ART IS IMAGINATION/ART IS DREAMING/ART IS INOVATION/ART IS THINKING/ART IS CRAETIVITY/ART IS EMOTIONS/ART IS SUPPORT/ART IS COMBINATION OF MATERIALS/ART IS CONCEPT/ART IS TO DO SOME THING DIFFERENT/ART IS TO EXPLORE AND ART IS FOR EVERYONE TO DO AND ENJOY All images © Baljit Chadha All rights reserved. Copying and/or distributing without my permission is strictly prohibited.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-WALL-OF-EXOTIC-FLOWERS/392880/2559933/view

#baljitchadha #abstractexpressionism

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bestworstcase · 4 years

Note

Would there be too many spoilers in asking what about Cass caught ZT’s attention in Bitter Snow? Did her aunt tell ZT about her? Did she just do a cursory once-over of her mind and go “ah yes, this was has sufficient emotional damage for manipulation”?

tbh at this point zhan tiri’s main investment is in sirin, because sirin is loyal and clever and poured a ton of effort into keeping the cult alive over the past couple decades, and that does mean a lot to zhan tiri. and while her foremost goal is to get herself freed, i do think zhan tiri has this… vague thought of, well, if i can play this in a way that reunites sirin with her niece, i will. as a favor to sirin.

but she’s not particularly interested in cassandra herself. cass just happened to be at janus point, and she happened to be out in the blizzard / in the group that found the demanitus device, and that put her in the thick of things, but her involvement was pretty incidental as far as zhan tiri was concerned beyond that... vague interest on sirin’s behalf.

more uh. details under the cut. it’s not really spoiler-y, just elaborations about what’s been going on in zhan tiri’s mind since chapter 15, it’s just long so kbjksdfjk

um… context. i’ve mentioned before that there are two basic planes of reality, the sublime (where the magical stuff is) and the profane (where the physical stuff is). zhan tiri is unique in that she “belongs” to both, because the profane realm fascinates her and she kind of.. rooted herself into it. this made getting rid of her a whole ordeal and ultimately demanitus’s solution was to carve out a new little void dimension and stuff her in there.

so zhan tiri is Gone. she—prior to chapter 15—did not Exist In Reality in any meaningful way. residual bits of her magic lingered in places like janus point and the pitch pond sirin visited in chapter 2, but there was no awareness attached. she has pretty much been sitting in a sensory deprivation tank for 1673 years with no idea what’s going on outside while her various cults flailed around trying to figure out how to free her (and dwindled away into skeletons of their former selves because worshipping a god who might as well be dead is… difficult).

the saporian cult pieced together that demanitus’s void prison had something to do with the sundrop, but they couldn’t… do anything with this information because no one knew where the sundrop was, and then once it was found it immediately got kidnapped and hidden away again. sirin’s original plan was to target arianna in the hopes that maybe enough of the sundrop’s magic lingered in her to be viable, and then it became… the princess is back, the rumors that she hosted the sundrop’s power appear to be true, she’s a better bet for what we want to do, grab her instead.

anyway the thing at janus point wasn’t a ritual per se, it was just kind of… hook the sundrop to the roots of zhan tiri’s tree and hope this cracks the void prison. which it did! and a teeny tiny bit of zhan tiri squeezed through.

so that part of chapter 15 is the first time zhan tiri gets any glimpse of what has happened in the sixteen hundred years she’s been trapped. she pulls some basic context out of sirin’s head and the heads of the other cultists who are there, clocks cass as sirin’s relative, takes note of the fact that the sundrop has a human vessel now, and, importantly, knows that passively drawing on the sundrop’s dormant magic is not going to be enough to free her completely.

and cass is interesting, because she’s sirin’s close relative but also desperate to stop what sirin’s doing, and mostly zhan tiri wants to know why. she doesn’t have strong connections with any of these people—they’re all strangers—meaning she can’t do more than sort of skim lightly over their surface thoughts. so the next best thing is… give cassandra what she asks for, then see what happens.

so zhan tiri spends chapter 16 watching things unfold in herzingen, and poking around corona to piece together all the things that happened while she was gone.

she figures everything out and she is Not Happy. but she also can’t do much about it right away, because the bit of her that is free is kind of equivalent to jamming your finger through the crack under a door. places like janus point / the bog are like… the roots for her magic in the profane realm, and that’s pretty much the reservoir she has to deal with, everything else is locked in the void. meaning she’s not super powerful, and she’s working with a limited reserve.

[it’s like… she’s starving. when you’re deprived of food, your body can burn through fat (and muscle) for energy instead, but that can only last for so long. she has some magic stored up, but she can’t replenish it until she’s freed.]

so!!! her most immediate goal is to make arrangements to minimize the need to draw on those magical reservoirs, i.e., she needs a scion to do stuff for her. so she hangs around herzingen enough to spook xavier (and make sure her loyal priestess is out of harm’s way), then goes blizzard with the intention of herding him to the demanitus device and getting him to use it to break one of the fancy, magically inert seals demanitus designed to trap all her scions.

the… additions of team corona to xavier’s little venture were not something she planned on, but, you know. it all worked out for the best :D

#bitter snow #Anonymous

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taww · 4 years

Text

First Take Review: Gryphon Essence Preamplifier & Stereo Amplifier

Okay, let’s get this out of the way: with a combined retail of over USD $40k (and that doesn’t include another $6k for the optional Zena DAC module), The Gryphon’s Essence preamplifier and stereo amplifier are by far the most expensive electronics I’ve ever had in my home! They might be the Danish firm’s entry point into separates, but that’s akin to calling a $146k Aston Martin Vantage “entry level.” There was a time in the not-so-distant past when spending such sums of money on stereo gear struck me as pointless excess. Perhaps I’ve been numbed by flipping through too many issues of The Absolute Sound or walking the halls of an audio show; perhaps I’m just entering a life stage (mid-life crisis, anyone?) where I’m allowing myself to indulge in such luxuries. Whatever the case may be, I’ve now had the good fortune of several months with the Essence combo, and despite a number of people prodding me for this review it’s been quite difficult to put into words how they perform. Why? Because every time I sit down to do the “work” of reviewing I just end up getting sucked into the music and forget to do the reviewing bit! But, here goes...

The arrival of the Gryphon components was a case of one thing leading to another. My first experience was when I strolled into Gryphon’s room at RMAF 2018. After being disappointed by so many other mega-buck systems at the show, I was delighted that this one actually sounded like music! Frankly, a lot of über-expensive show systems landed on my ears like amusical hi-fi effects or whimsical fancies of what some people think music should sound like, rather than an actual musical performance. Like other big systems, the Gryphon rig was imposing and fancy-looking, but with a decidedly purposeful, even stark, aesthetic. And the sound - so tangible and luscious, maybe a little dark and brooding, but in a way that connected me emotionally to the recorded performance rather than distracting me with sonic affect.

At the time I was happily running the Valvet A4 Mk.II monoblocks, and also had @mgd-taww’s Pass Labs XA30.5 at my disposal. Both delivered the pure and colorful musical flavors of Class A amplification, and both are superb amps. But things got thrown for a bit of a loop when I settled on the Audiovector SR 6 Avantgarde Arreté speakers as my new reference. I had auditioned them at AudioVision SF with the Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated amp ($16k) and the sound gave up nothing to high-quality separates - big, bold and dynamic with tremendous poise and nuance. Coming back to the Pass and Valvet amplifiers (coupled with a Pass Labs XP10 line stage) certainly wasn’t a let-down, but they didn’t have quite the same level synergy with the Audiovectors which sounded more complete and visceral with the Gryphon integrated.

This combined with the strong aural memories from the RMAF room led to a call to Gryphon’s US distributor, Philip O’Hanlon and Pandora Pang of On a Higher Note. Philip acknowledged that the Diablo was indeed excellent but teased that Gryphon had recently introduced a new line of separates worth consideration. The Essence had just arrived in the States and he had one more set in stock if I were so inclined... and next thing I know, a pallet loaded with what my wife lovingly referred to as “an illegal arms shipment” landed at our doorstep.

Serious crates for serious gear

Like all separates in The Gryphon’s 35-year heritage dating back to the original DM100 amplifier, the Essence line features pure Class A operation with minimal negative feedback, but brings it at a lower price point ($22,990) with more conservative aesthetics and practical packaging. Prior to the Essence, to get a Gryphon amp one had to shell out anywhere from $39k for the Antileon EVO to $57k for the flagship Mephisto (double those if going for monoblocks). The tradeoff is a lower power rating - just 50wpc, albeit in pure class A and doubling into 4 ohms and again into 2 ohms - so you’ll want to pair it with a reasonably efficient speaker. The Essence preamp meanwhile is a repackaging of the Zena preamplifier launched in 2018 (also $17,500), reskinned with cosmetics to match the amp. It features fully balanced operation via a discrete DC-coupled Class A circuit with zero global negative feedback, and can accommodate either of two optional internal modules, the Zena DAC ($6,000) or an MM/MC phono stage ($2,250). Being strictly digital I opted to evaluate the DAC, which I’ll talk about in a later installment. I’ll also save more details about the design and operation of this beautifully-crafted gear, including Gryphon’s unique Green Bias system, for a more in-depth review. For now, let’s get down to the business of how it sounds...

The Essence Preamp

When the Essence components arrived I clearly needed my wife’s assistance to safely unpack and set up the 45kg/99lb Essence amp. But she was busy making reeds for her oboe that evening, so I initially made do setting up the preamp (it weighs in at “only” 13.4kg/29.5lbs) and comparing it to my Pass Labs XP10 with the Pass Labs XA30.5 amplifier.

Firing up the Essence preamp from a cold start was one of those “damn, I don’t understand how a preamp can make this much of a difference” moments. Even though the Pass XP10 is a very solid performer - I find the sound of my PS Audio DirectStream significantly improved by it vs. feeding an amplifier directly - the 3x-as-expensive Gryphon outclassed it from the first note, taking musical resolution from the micro to nano level.

The first thing I noticed was how the entire back of the stage opened up. I never realized how triangular it sounded before, becoming narrower as you went deeper. With the Essence it suddenly feels rectangular and whole, with winds, brass and percussion able to naturally spread out and breath on the stage. It didn’t even take a big orchestral recording to experience this - my very first track was an intimate vocal with piano accompaniment, soprano Elsa Dreisig singing Strauss songs with pianist Jonathan Ware (Qobuz). The sense of the space - a church, as you can see from this video - and where the performers occupied it became strikingly tangible. Piano has starting clarity, with all its complex overtones unfolded and laid out for your ear to sample at its leisure. Dynamic resolution is also unlocked - subtle gradations in vocal intensity flow so organically. Going back to the Pass pre, macro dynamics weren’t Iacking, but the transitions somehow came across more synthetically, as if the volume dial was being turned rather than the performers modulating their instruments in the original performance.

One thing that didn't change too much was overall tonal balance. I find the Pass pretty neutral and extended, if anything having a subtly warmish character to it, at least by solid state standards. The Gryphon doesn't deviate notably from that, leaning slightly in that direction though with more sophisticated and varied tonal richness and density. The quality of the frequency extremes, however, is a different matter. Most striking is how triangles sparkle and ring with startling presence on the Gryphon. With a claimed frequency response out to 1MHz, the Essence pre delivers the highest highs with a sense of ease and finesse. And the bass is everything people have come to expect from the Gryphon house sound - deep, taut and powerful with beautiful tonality. The Pass Labs wasn’t missing any of the music per se, but the deepest bass notes and highest overtones sounded constrained vs. the effortless and wide-open delivery of the Essence.

So, yeah - a preamplifier that costs 3x as much as the Pass XP10 sounds clearly superior. Not much of a news flash, and a much fairer comparison in the Pass lineup would be the XP32 ($17,500) or at least an XP22 ($9,500). But what took me aback was how a preamplifier like the Essence could bring out so much life and nuance that was being curtailed by an otherwise fine piece like the Pass. The net effect was to make the musical performance feel significantly more tangible, visceral and unclouded - something that even the change of a DAC or amplifier doesn’t consistently achieve. The Gryphon Essence pre is simply an incredible conveyor of the musical signal.

And we haven’t even tried the amplifier yet...

The Essence Amplifier

Once I got my wife to assist in positioning the hefty Essence amp in the cabinet (safety first!), I hooked up the Audiovectors via my usual Audience Au24 SX cables and powered up the Gryphon using the stock power cord (the amp requires a 20A IEC connector, so standard cords won’t work). I played a bit with the Green Bias settings but obviously settled with it in red-hot Class A operation for serious listening. And while the amp has since benefited from multiple months of break-in, it was apparent from its first notes that the Essence had resolution, clarity, dynamics and tonal completeness on an altogether different level from any amp I’ve experienced in my system. But there was something else remarkable about its presentation that’s taken me many months to put my finger on, and I think I might be finally getting it.

The Essence amp has a very special ability to deliver the leading edge of a sound with incredible speed, precision and clarity. I’ve heard amps with fast leading edges (some attribute this to high slew rate), I’ve heard amps with very clean ones (lack of distortion and ringing). The Essence delivers a combination of fast and clean that is truly exceptional, and perhaps close to the state of the art. Every impulse and note attack hits you with perfect timing and delineation, then decay with similarly impeccable control. By comparison, amps like the Pass Labs that struck me as very pure have a bit of fuzz to them. Ever listen to an AM radio station when the signal gets weak, and all the starts and stops of sounds get staticky and fuzzy? There was a bit of that feeling going back to other amps in my system... no, they weren’t literally fuzzy and distorted. It’s just that the Essence amp sounds exceptionally lithe and clean, removing an extremely subtle layer of distortion that became difficult to un-hear in other amplifiers.

Coming from the Pass XA30.5, the Essence’s midrange was less overtly warm but even more substantive in tone. The Pass is certainly on the warm and lush side for a solid state amp, but past Gryphons I’ve heard had their own dose of chocolatey richness, so I was initially surprised by the balance of the Essence. It has the midrange density and lush tonal colors I was expecting from a Class A Gryphon amp, and yet it also sounds close to dead neutral in character. There’s a crystalline transparency that makes everything else sound a bit cloudy by comparison. Class A amps usually get the tonal part right, but can sound a bit sluggish or rounded dynamically; Class AB amps often have great transient speed but with some roughness around the edges and a bit of tonal hollowness. The Essence backs its exceedingly snappy and clean transients with real tonal substance and an infinite palette of realistic tonal colors. It can simultaneously preserve the gravitas of a string bass ostinato, the glowing warmth of a French horn, the delicate nasality of an oboe and the ethereal lightness of a flute all in balance. Orchestral recordings have never sounded this vivid and realistic in my home.

An interesting display of the amp’s prowess was in violinist Hilary Hahn’s recording of the Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto (Qobuz). The album also contains Mozart’s popular “Turkish” concerto which probably gets most of the plays; the Vieuxtemps is infrequently performed and mostly known by violinists as a sort of advanced student concerto (yes, my teacher made me study it). Vieuxtemps was a Belgian virtuoso of the romantic era and while the concerto has its charms, its orchestration is rather clunky. This actually made for a fascinating sonic experience in the concerto’s orchestral exposition, where different instruments pass melodic fragments back and forth in somewhat disjointed fashion rather than the more cohesive harmonization and counterpoint you’d get from a German master. A flute here, a clarinet there, a timpani roll or violin flourish coming and passing - the Essence conveyed each one with striking clarity and trueness of timbre and dynamics, arranging all the instruments across the stage in perfect proportion. So much of the feel of an instrument lies not just in its tonal makeup but the shape and feel of its notes - the reedy breathiness of a clarinet, the ringing “bong” of a timpani, the firm attack of a trumpet, the brush stroke of a violin. This is where the Essence’s leading-edge precision and lack of electronic haze help it truly evoke the feeling of sitting on the stage with the musicians, each and every instrumental entrance having that tactile realism.

Having been a classmate’s of Ms. Hahn’s I also have first-hand experiences of her playing, and the Essence strongly evoked memories of hearing her performing in recitals or practicing in our conservatory. Though we were both teenagers at the time, she had already developed her distinctive tone and focused intensity, and hearing that reproduced so vividly through the Essence and Audiovector speakers is uncanny.

The frequency extremes of the Essence amp, particularly in combination with the Essence preamp, are also something special - the crazy-wide specified bandwidth of Gryphon components is no joke. The speed and tautness and slam of the bass brings realistic clarity to the foundation of the music. It’s bass that I like to call “sneaky” for the way it doesn’t unduly call attention to itself, but then will come out and smack you in the face as in a live event. Instruments like string bass or contrabassoon are naturally portrayed in the orchestration, rather than getting buried in the mix. The top end is extended and articulate, capable of bringing out all the energy and brilliance of string, brass and percussion instruments, and yet certain recordings that tend towards brightness actually sound warmer and smoother than I've heard before. It sounds so pure and free from distortion, so that if there’s any distortion already present on the recording it does nothing to aggravate it. Sibilants and tape hiss and clipping are still there, yet come across less obtrusively, making them easy to tune out in favor of the music.

Case in point: the DSD remaster of Strauss Don Juan, recorded in 1958 by the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell (Qobuz). My wife and I have listened to this recording dozens if not hundreds of times and while the performance is riveting, the recording quality has always been a bit hissy and strident. My wife asked to listen to it again on the Gryphon setup for study purposes and halfway through I remarked, "does this recording sound a lot less bright to you?" She concurred - we had never heard it sound so clean and natural, and for the first time I didn't notice the tape hiss at all. The Gryphon gear really does excel at extracting the essence of the musical performance locked in the recording, neither artificially filtering nor amplifying the distractions of its mechanical limitations. I’ve heard far too many ultra high-end systems that need absolutely pristine audiophile material to sound their best. With the Gryphons, every recording in my collection has never sounded more distinguished and compelling.

The sense of space that the Essence preamp conveyed with other amplifiers becomes even stronger in combination with the Essence amp. I have never heard the different sections of a symphony orchestra arranged so palpably. Winds and percussion have clearly delineated space behind the string section, and delicate clarinet solos that are typically a bit hazy in recordings are conveyed with both clarity and intimacy. There’s something about the Essence’s blend of clean transients, tonal rightness and harmonic resolution that bring out the distinct ambience and texture of each recording - the aural equivalent of the “mouth feel” of a wine. Going back to otherwise excellent amps makes everything feel a bit more homogenous, a hair less stimulating.

There are a couple of potential shortcomings to call out, and they may be interrelated. The first is that the bass in combination with the Audiovector speakers isn’t quite as hard-hitting as with, say, the 600wpc Class D Legacy iv2, or as what I heard with the Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated; nor is it as plump and room-filling as with the Pass XA30.5. Quality-wise it’s exceptional - fast and deep and pitch-perfect in ways they can’t match - but sometimes I just want it to fill out the space a bit more and punch me in the gut a little harder. I mostly miss this when listening to pop tracks, e.g. anything from Billie Eilish where the raw punch of the Legacy amp factors more strongly than the n-th degree of refinement from the Gryphon.

The other nit is that the soundstage, while vividly painted, feels a bit less “generous” than bigger-sounding amps like the Legacy or Pass Labs, or the Gryphon Diablo for that matter. There’s a bit more emphasis on the precise constituency of an orchestra, as opposed to its sheer scale - a little more of the trees, a little less of the forest. To some, this may make the Essence feel a hair light in presentation, despite its rich and layered midrange. Ears I trust tell me moving up the Gryphon line to the Antileon EVO or Mephisto can give you the best of both worlds, but those are obviously at increasingly exorbitant price points.

I’ll need to try tweaking these area of reproduction more (e.g. cables), but as it currently stands, I could see the Essence best matching with speakers that are tonally richer and a bit less critically damped on the bottom end, vs. requiring care with something leaner and more laser-focused. It’s slightly lean with some recordings on the Audiovectors, and I’d definitely want to check before paring it with the likes of a Magico. It goes without saying that when you get to this level of fidelity (and cost), you should expect to spend a fair amount of time and effort on component matching.

As a side note, I was able to further extend the capabilities of the Essence via Furutech’s DPS-4.1 power cord (custom built with 20A connectors) and DSS-4.1 speaker cables. These upped the clarity and transparency yet another notch or three, opened up dynamics further and created a wider sense of space on recording after recording. I’ll have more on these excellent cables and how they synergize with the Gryphons in a future installment.

Capturing the Essence

It’s been challenging pinning down the character of the Essence system, the amp in particular. Even more so than other great Class A amps I’ve heard, including from Gryphon, the Essence amp has a combination of purity, openness, refinement, clarity, speed and dynamic life that defy the usual idiosyncrasies and limitations of Class A vs. AB vs. D. It’s dynamically fleet, rhythmically incisive, tonally sophisticated, dimensionally resolving, and sneakily powerful and punchy. In combination with the superb companion preamp, it uncovers a sense of space in virtually every recording I throw at it with greater detail and palpability than I’ve heard before, without seeming artificially holographic like some tube amps. The tonal purity and resolving power of this pair are simply at a level I have rarely experienced anywhere at any price. Moreover, the name “Essence” couldn’t be more apt - all these sophisticated qualities are squarely focused on conveying the beauty and quirks of the original recording without need for enhancement or editorializing to make it enjoyable. The closest aural recollection I have of this sort of musical resolution was the MSB Reference + Magico M3 system at RMAF 2018, which had a significantly superior DAC and a total cost approaching $300k.

As for the price... well, I can say that the monies spent on a piece by The Gryphon clearly go towards obsessive engineering and craftsmanship in the service of state-of-the-art music reproduction, rather than ostentation or frivolous excess. This is musical fidelity of the highest order, and my new reference in amplification.

#review #firsttake #gryphon #amplifier #preamplifier #dac #audio #audiophile #hifi

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